SC commutes death penalty of three to life until death

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of three convicts to imprisonment till natural death in a sensational murder case filed for killing Gopal Krishna Muhuri, former principal of Nazirhat College in Chattogram.

The principal was shot dead at his Jamal Khan Road residence in Chattogram on November 16, 2001.

A three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali delivered the verdict after holding hearing on the appeals filed by the convicts against the High Court verdict on them in the case.

The grounds on which the apex court commuted their death sentence could not be known immediately as the full text of the verdict has not been released yet.

All three convicts -- Mohammad Azam, Alamgir Kabir and Taslim Uddin Montu -- are now in the condemned cell, said Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta who represented the state during the hearing of the case.

Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Advocate Helal Uddin Molla appeared in the court on behalf of the accused.

Amit Das Gupta also said the three convicts will be shifted to the normal cell of the jail as they are not death-row convicts. He, however, could not say in which jail the three convicts are serving their punishment.

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