One of the convicted killers of the four national leaders, Captain (relieved) Kismat Hashem, died of heart attack in Canada early yesterday.
Kismat died at his home in Montreal around 6am, his younger brother Shawkat Hasem Shoku said. He would be buried after a janaza today.
Kismat was sentenced to life in prison for the murders in the early hours of November 3, 1975, at the Dhaka Central Jail.
Tajuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh’s first prime minister; Syed Nazrul Islam, the first vice-president; and ministers of Mujibnagar government Captain M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman were arrested after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his family members on August 15 the same year. They were assassinated inside the jail amid coup and counter-coup in the army.
Kismat fled the country soon after the killings.
Trial in the case began after the Awami League assumed office in 1996. A Dhaka court on October 20, 2004, awarded capital punishment to three former army men and life-term jail to 12 others including Kismat.
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court verdict on April 30, 2013. Four of the convicts were executed in Bangabandhu murder case.
