Muntasir Al Jemy, sentenced to death for the murder of Buet student Abrar Fahad, escaped from prison on August 6 last year, but the authorities kept the information from Abrar's family until yesterday.
The revelation came as Jemy's lawyer failed to appear in court for legal arguments, raising suspicions.
Abrar's younger brother, Abrar Faiyaz, addressed the matter in a Facebook post yesterday evening, expressing outrage over the delayed disclosure.
Deputy Attorney General Md Jasim Sarker confirmed the news to The Daily Star, saying that Jemy fled on August 6 last year. At least 209 prisoners escaped that day from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur during a jailbreak.
Contacted, Jannat-Ul Forhad, assistant inspector general (Development and Media) of the Department of Prisons, confirmed to The Daily Star that Jemy escaped from Kashimpur prison on August 6 last year.
"The prison authorities filed a case with the Konabari Police Station the same night. Jemy is one of the named accused in the case," he added.
"Jemy was supposed to be held in a condemned cell. How did he escape?" Faiyaz said.
"The fact that this information was withheld for so long only proves that no attempts have been made to recapture Jemy," Faiyaz added.
Meanwhile, the High Court is set to deliver its verdict any day on the death references and appeals of the convicts in the Abrar murder case.
On October 7, 2019, Abrar, a second-year student at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was beaten to death by a group of now-banned Chhatra League activists in a dormitory.
On December 8, 2021, a Dhaka court sentenced 20 Buet students to death for their direct involvement in the murder, while five others were given life imprisonment.
The case documents reached the HC on January 6, 2022, for a mandatory review of the death sentences, and hearings began on November 28 last year.
Source: The Daily Star