Fours years after the Feni assassination of Upazila Chairman Ekramul Haque Ekram, law-enforcers are yet to trace 17 death row convicts.
Of the convicts, nine were tried as fugitives while the remaining eight absconded after securing bails.
The victim’s family is frustrated as the appeal hearings are yet to begin to months after the trial court’s verdict.
Defence counsel Ahasan Kabir Bengal said the death row convicts who are at large are Zahid Hossain Jihad, joint general secretary of Fulgazi Upazila wing of Awami League, Abidul Islam Abid, Chowdhury Md Nafiz Uddin Anik, Arman Hosen Kausar, Zahedul Hashem Saikat, Ziaur Rahman Bappi, Jasim Uddin Nayan, Emran Hossain Russel, Rahat Md Irfan alais Azad, Ekram Hossain alias Akram, Shafiqur Rahman alias Moyna, Kafil Uddin Mahmud Abir, Mosleh Uddin Asif, Ismail Hossain Chhuttu, Mahiuddin Anis, Bablu and Titu.
According to Feni residents, convicts Zahid Hossain Jihad and Abidul Islam, who were directly involved in the killing, have left the country after getting bails from the court.
“We are disappointed over police’s failure to arrest the 17 fugitive convicts,” the slain Upazila chairman’s brother Jasim told Bangla Tribune.
Police have no information on the whereabouts of the fugitive convicts, said OC Rashed Khan Chowdhury of the Feni Model Police Station.
Twenty-two of the death row convicts are now behind the bars, according to the public prosecutor of Feni district judge’s court.
“The documents relating to death references were forwarded to the High Court within 72 hours of the Mar 13 verdict. The appeal hearings will begin as soon as the paper books are ready,” he said.
Ekramul Haque Ekram, the then Fulgazi Upazila chairman and Awami League president, was hacked and shot to death in broad daylight in Feni on May 20, 2014.
On Mar 13, a court in Feni sentenced 39 to death in the case filed by Ekram’s elder brother Rezaul Haque Jasim.
Another 16, including BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury Minar, were acquitted of the charges.
Law enforcers arrested 44 persons, nine of whom got bail. A suspect in the case Sohel died in a ‘shootout’ with RAB. At least 15 of the arrested had confessed to the crime.