Two ex-policemen among three sentenced to life in prison over 1999 DB informant murder
As the convicts are absconding, the court issued arrest warrants and warrants for execution of the sentence.
A Dhaka court has sentenced three people, including two former policemen, to life imprisonment over the 1999 murder of Detective Branch (DB) informant Jalal Ahmed Shafi.
Dhaka's Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mosaddek Minhaj delivered the verdict on Thursday (30 April), court bench assistant Sayedur Rahman confirmed.
Those convicted are former havildar Md Billal Hossain, former constable Md Abdur Rouf, and Md Anwar Hossain, director of the DB canteen.
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Each was also fined Tk10,000, with one month's simple imprisonment in default of payment.
As the convicts are absconding, the court issued arrest warrants and warrants for execution of the sentence, Sayedur said.
The prime accused, DB inspector Md Ziaul Hasan, died during the trial, while driver Abdul Malek was acquitted as the charges against him were not proven.
According to the case statement, Jalal's half-decomposed body was recovered from a rooftop water tank at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's DB office on Minto Road on 25 March 1999.
Jalal, a microbus driver who frequently worked for the DB, had developed close ties with officers there.
Per the case files, Jalal was killed after providing information on a gold smuggling syndicate near the airport area to another intelligence team, which angered Ziaul.
On the night of 19 March 1999, Jalal was lured from his home, murdered with the help of the other accused, and his body hidden in the water tank at the DB office.
Police pressed charges on 9 August 1999, and the trial began in July 2000.
The court later recorded testimonies from 26 witnesses before delivering the verdict.
