Convicts weep, yell after death penalty for Dr Nitai murder

Convicts have burst into tears as the verdict was announced in the murder case of Dr Narayan Chandra Dutta Nitai, an assistant professor at the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital, who was killed in 2012.

In the dock on Sunday, they clamoured and protested, insisting on their innocence after the court sentenced them to death for the doctor’s killing at his home.

Four others were handed prison terms until their death, while another convict was sentenced to life in prison.

Judge Rezaul Karim of the Dhaka Special Judge’s Court issued the order.

Among the 10 convicts, Nitai’s driver, Kamrul Hasan Arun, along with Masum Mintu, Sayed Bepari, Bokul Mia and Sayed Mizi, were handed the death penalty and fined Tk 10,000 each.

Nitai was a leader in the Shadhinota Chikitshok Parishad, an organisation of doctors who supported the then-ruling Awami League, and an executive council member of the Bangladesh Medical Association. On the night of Aug 23, 2012, he was killed at his home in the hospital’s residential area in Mohakhali.

Only Nitai’s elderly mother was at home with him at the time. His wife, Lucky Chowdhury, was in Chattogram.