Prof Taher's killers hanged in Rajshahi central jail

Two death-row convicts in the case of Professor S Taher Ahmed of the Department of Geology and Mining at Rajshahi University (RU) were executed in Rajshahi Central Jail on Thursday night after more than 17 years of the murder.

The two executed are – Associate Professor Dr Mia Mohammad Mohiuddin of the same department and the deceased's caretaker Md Jahangir Alam.

The execution was done at the same stage and same time amid tight security from 10:01pm to 10:30pm in the presence of the deputy inspector general of prison, senior jail super, jailor and representatives of other government agencies concerned.

After completing all necessary legal procedures and formalities, the body of Dr Mia Mohammad Mohiuddin was sent to his village home in Bhanga Upazila of Faridpur district, while Jahangir's body was sent to his ancestral home at Khojapur in Rajshahi city for burial.

Earlier, all legal procedures had been exhausted as the Supreme Court rejected the pleas of the death-row convicts and the president turned down the Marcy petitions.

The body of Prof Taher of the Geology and Mining Department was found in a septic tank two days after he went missing on February 1, 2006.

Two days later, his son Sanzid filed a murder case with Motihar Police Station in Rajshahi.

Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal on May 22, 2008, awarded the death penalty to four people. Others, including former RU Chhatra Shibir president Mahbubul Alam Salehi, were acquitted later.

On May 13, 2013, the High Court confirmed the capital punishment of Dr Mohiuddin and Jahangir but commuted the punishment of Salam and Nazmul to imprisonment until death.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court turned down the review petitions of the two condemned prisoners on March 2, 2023.

An eight-member bench headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order.

In the latest development, the SC has rejected the petitions which solicited an order to halt the execution of convicts.

The four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order. So, there was no bar to execute the two death row convicts.

Various reasons including professional jealousy and fundamental politics of Chhatra Shibir in Rajshahi University campus acted behind the killing of Prof Taher, sources said.

Taher was a professor at the Geology and Mining Department while convict Mohiuddin was an associate professor in the same department.

In its observation, the court said that convict Prof Dr Mia Mohammad Mohiuddin feared that he would not be able to become a professor if Taher remained alive and that's why killed him out of professional jealousy.

/KN/