A death reference bench of the HC also confirmed life imprisonment of two of the four persons in the case and acquitted two.

The HC also upheld the lower court acquittal of four of the accused persons.

The convicts with death penalty are Nasir alias Gittu Nasir, Shafiul Azam, Alamgir Kabir alias Baitta Alamgir and Taslim uddin Montu.

Of the four, Gittu Nasir was killed in crossfire with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on March 2 last year and the others are in jail.

The two given life-term are Mohiuddin alias Mohinuddin and Habib Khan, both absconding.

The other two, whom the lower court had awarded life-term but the HC acquitted, are Saiful Islam alias Chhoto Saiful and Mohammad Shahjahan. Criminals killed Saiful on 29 June, 2004, at his house.

Four others acquitted are Prof Mohammad Idris Miah Chowdhury, Prof Mohammad Zahurul Haq, Prof Tofazzal Ahmed and Nasir alias Shibir Nasir.

Complainant of the case Uma Muhuri had earlier appealed to the HC against the lower court acquittal of these four persons. Of them, Zahurul Haq and Tofazzal Ahmed died.

The HC judgement said evidence given by the complainant, confession of Montu, recovery of arms used in the murder, report of arms experts, past records of the accused and circumstantial evidence clearly proved the guilt of the convicts.

Principal Gopal Krishna Muhuri of Nazirhat College in Chittagong was killed at his Jamal Khan Road residence on November 16, 2001.

Three gunmen accompanied by an unarmed criminal broke into his house, dragged him to the drawing room from his bedroom and shot him in his head.

The gruesome killing of an educationist only 35 days after the BNP-Jamaat coalition came to power shocked the nation profoundly.

Following the case filed by Muhuri's wife Uma Muhuri, police chargesheeted 12 people as accused.

Chittagong Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal heard the case and gave its verdict on February 6, 2003.

The HC hearing of the death reference began on July 5 and delivery of the verdict started on July 17.

On the confessional statement of condemned convict Taslim Uddin Montu, the HC bench observed that if someone is not involved in a killing, it is not possible for one to give a detailed account of the incident through confession. Besides, Montu's confession is self-motivated and true. The convict could not prove that he made the confession due to torture.

The court said Montu had submitted a petition for withdrawing his confessional statement. But did not do this in accordance with law and had made a long delay not permitted by law.

The HC expressed its surprise over the role of the public prosecutor (PP) who conducted the case at the speedy trial tribunal. The PP did not take any initiative to identify the guilty persons though there was scope to identify them with the help of the complainant, witnesses and others.

Regarding the role of the investigating officers of the case, the court noted that there were four officials in charge of the investigation yet the probe was shabbily done.

On behalf of Uma Muhuri, Advocate AKM Faiz and Advocate Hari Sadhan Dev Brahman moved the case at HC. Advocate Ajay Bhoumik, DL Chowdhury and Abdul Malek assisted them.