Syed Taher Ahmed was a professor of geology and mining at the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh who was missing on 1 February 2006 and was found dead two days later.
Ahmed discovered inconsistencies in the application; Mohiuddin had not served the required 12-year-academic service, and more critically, had plagiarised and pirated ten of the eleven research papers he submitted.
Mahbubul Alam Salehi, president of University of Rajshahi unit of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, and Azimuddin Munshi, Jahangir's father, were also accused to have part in the crime.
On 23 May 2008, the Speedy Trial Tribunal in Rajshahi made the verdict; Mohiuddin, Alam, Salam, and Nazmul were given death sentence, while Salehi and Munshi were acquitted.
After a plea at higher tribunal, the Bangladesh High Court reduced the sentence of Salam and Nazmul to life imprisonment in 2013.
[3] As a senior faculty member, Ahmed was the head of the planning committee on screening teachers's eligibility when they apply for promotion in their services.
[6][7] Ahmed's colleague, Mia (also spelled Miah[8]) Mohammad Mohiuddin, who at the time was an associate professor, applied for promotion in 2006.
"[9] In early 2006, Shagufta joined a law degree course in Dhaka,[10] a distance of 254 kilometers (158 miles) by road from Rajshahi,[11] and stayed there with her mother Sultana Ahmed.
As soon as his graduation, he was given appointment as a lecturer in the Department of Geology and Mining in December 1990, his selection largely influenced by Ahmed and Selina Khatun.
Through political influences from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat), an ally of BNP, he was able to secure a scholarship for higher studies in Belgium in 1992.
However, the promotion was put on probation as the university syndicate found that he did not completely satisfy the eligibility, which was a requirement of two research papers.
In 2005, the university's registrar reminded the head of the Department of Geology and Mining that Mohiuddin was not yet confirmed as an assistant professor as he failed to submit the research papers.
[12] On 13 May 2005, Mohiuddin had already applied for promotion to full professor to the registrar, which put the confirmation case aside as the planning committee was not a deciding body on such matter.
[18] On 10 February 2006, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh held a rally with Mahbubul Alam Saleh and challenged members of the police to arrest him if they could.
[19] After full investigations, on 18 March 2007, the police arrested:[14][20] After Mohammad Yunus, Ahmed was the second professor of University of Rajshahi to be killed by individuals with alleged links to Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.
In August 2006, activists of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir threatened Professor Hasan Azizul Huq of the Philosophy Department of the university and accused him of being an atheist and anti-Islam.
[23] Alam, Nazmul and Salam testified in the court that Mohiuddin had hired them for the murder with promises of money, computers and university jobs.
[14] On 22 May 2008,[24] Judge ATM Mesbauddoula of the Speedy Trial Tribunal in Rajshahi announced the verdict: death sentence to Mohiuddin, Alam, Salam and Nazmul.
[13] Rajshahi unit president of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Ataur Rahman, brought out a rally celebrating the verdict after members of his party's student wing were acquitted.
[8] The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court reviewed the petitions from which Chief justice Hasan Foez Siddique issued an order that rejected the plea on 5 April (or 5 September[29][17]) 2022.