A Dhaka court has sentenced three people, including controversial businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai aka Abdul Aziz, to life in prison in a case over the murder of actor Sohel Chowdhury, a cinema star from the 1990s.
Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 Judge Arunav Chakravarty delivered the verdict on Thursday. He set the date after hearing arguments of the state and the prosecution on Apr 29.
The two other convicts are Trumps Club owner Afaqul Islam aka Bunty Islam and Adnan Siddiqui.
The court also fined each of them Tk 200,000. A failure to pay the fine will add another month to their prison sentence.
Selim Khan, Sanjidul Islam Emon and Ashish Rai Choudhury alias Botol Choudhury, Tariq Sayeed Mamun, Harun Ur Rashid alias Leather Liton alias Boss Liton and Farooq Abbasiwere acquittedin the case.
Sohel was shot dead underneath the Trumps Club at Abedin Tower in Banani on Dec 18, 1998. His brother, Touhidul Islam Chowdhury, filed a murder case at Gulshan Police Station the same day.
After the actor’s murder, it was alleged that Aziz Mohammad was involved in the incident.
The actor had an altercation with Aziz Mohammad a few months before the murder. Sohel was killed in retaliation for the incident, according to the case dossier.
Sohel, along withhis friends, was obstructed when he tried to enter the club that night. The actor tried again to get access to the club around 2:30am when Emon, Mamun, Liton, Farooq and Adnan opened fire on him, the case document read.
In 1999, police indicted nine peopleandthe casewas later forwardedto the Speedy Trial Tribunal.
But the trial stalled as Tariq Sayeed, an acquitted suspect, appealed for the case to be dismissed. The High Court later paused the proceedings in 2004.
The documents of the case could not be found for a long time after that. The matter came to the limelight again following a writ petition.
In 2015, the High Court reversed its previous ruling and removed the stay order. Then the trial resumed at the judicial court.
Only ten witnesses testified in the case for the state. Among the suspects, only Emon and Ashish gave a written statement to the court on Feb 11. They both claimed their innocence and sought justice.
Sohel entered the Dhaka movie scene through FDC’s campaign to find new faces in 1984 and later tied the knot with actress Parveen Sultana Diti, who died of cancer in 2016. The couple left behind two children.
