A court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the 2017 murder of 20-year-old businessman Abu Naser in Chattogram’s Pahartali area.
Chattogram’s Fifth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Md. Tajul Islam, delivered the verdict on Sunday (June 21).
The convict, 45-year-old Md. Ismail Hossain Sujon from Noakhali’s Begumganj upazila, was tried in absentia. An arrest warrant has been issued against him.
The court also fined Sujon Tk 50,000, with an additional one-year prison term in default. Court Bench Assistant SM Kawsar Sagar confirmed that the verdict was reached based on the testimony of 12 witnesses.
According to court documents, the murder occurred on March 24, 2017, at the Alankar Shopping Complex. Naser ran a shop named Momtaz Telecom on the second floor. Sujon, a mobile mechanic, had previously rented space from another shop owner, Ferdous Wahid, but relocated to a different shop without paying his outstanding rent.
An altercation broke out when Wahid confronted Sujon over the unpaid dues. When Naser intervened to break up the argument, Sujon stabbed him in the chest and abdomen with a pair of scissors.
Fellow traders rushed Naser to Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. The following day, the victim’s mother, Momtaz Begum, filed a murder case at the Pahartali Police Station, initiating the legal proceedings that led to Sunday's conviction.
