A Dhaka court yesterday in Jayanti Reza murder trial found Azam Reza guilty and sentenced him to death for killing his wife, an architect and a teacher of English-medium school, on January 8 last year.
Judge AR Masud of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 handed down the sentence in presence of the convict Azam Reza at a jam-packed courtroom.

Azam Reza, the lone accused in the case, was produced before the court at 11:00am.The judge took his seat at 11:45am and read out the highlights of the 31-page judgment in 10 minutes.

Reza, 50, a vice-president of Dhaka Bank, looked cheerful till the court pronounced the death sentence.

The convict can appeal to the High Court (HC) against the judgment within 30 days, the judge said.
Jayanti's mother Lusil Sadekin, sister Sathi and Sathi's husband Mahbubur were in the court during the delivery of the judgment. On hearing the judgment, Lusil Sadekin broke down in tears and told the reporters that she knows that she is never going to get back her daughter but now she would at least find some solace in the justice.

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed arguments and the court recorded statements of 13 out of 20 prosecution witnesses.

Special Public Prosecutor Aminul Islam yesterday expressed his satisfaction over the judgment. He told The Daily Star that Azam Reza's sister television actress Shampa Reza and his girl friend were accused of damaging the evidence of the murder. But the investigation officer of the case allegedly dropped their names from the charge sheet. The SPP said he, however, had no jurisdiction to bring them into trial though the allegations were under section 201 (destruction of alamat) of the Penal Code.

According to law, when one's wife gets killed at his own residence, he will have to explain the killing. But Azam Reza in this case not only failed to do so but he attempted to project his wife's death as an unnatural death.

Azam Reza's father Ahmed Reza, mother Mrs Reza and sister Shampa Reza were present in the court but they did not comment on the judgment. They said they would appeal to the HC against it.
In his judgment, the judge said Azam Reza, whose first wife is paralysed, contracted a marriage with Jayanti Munshi three and a half years back. But Reza's extra-marital affair with TV actress Afsana Mimi soon threw his relationship with Jayanti in jeopardy. Jayanti could never come to terms with her husband's affair with Mimi, the court mentioned.
As the marital difficulties got exacerbated Reza started to torture Jayanti both physically and mentally. He considered her an obstacle to his affair with Afsana Mimi, said the judge adding the accused of the gruesome killing of Jayanti does not deserve any mercy.

Police recovered the body of Jayanti, a teacher of Australian International School, hanging from the ceiling fan in their Banani house on January 9 last year. Jayanti's mother Lusil Sadekin filed a General Diary (GD) with Gulshan Police Station. In the GD, she mentioned that Azam murdered his wife with the intent to have Mimi as his life partner. Jayanti's mother later filed a case accusing Azam Reza, his sister Shampa Reza and Afsana Mimi of killing her daughter.

The Detective Branch (DB) on March 30 last year indicted Azam Reza for murdering Jayanti Munshi alias Jayanti Reza, while dropped the names of Shampa Reza and Afsana Mimi from the charge sheet on the grounds that there was not enough evidence against the two.

Investigation Officer (IO) DB Inspector Ruhul Quddus submitted the charge sheet to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka 82 days after the incident.

Ruhul Quddus said in the charge sheet that primary investigation based on the first information report (FIR), statements of 20 witnesses and the post-mortem report found Azam Reza guilty.

The IO quoting the post-mortem report said cerebral failure resulted from head injury caused the death, which was homicidal in nature.

The court framed charge against Reza on August 16 last year and the trial of the case began on September 16 the same year with the deposition of Lusil Sadekin, the complainant of the case.

Advocates Khan Saifur Rahman and Abu Hanif appeared for the accused while Advocate Ruhul Amin appeared for the state.



Azam Reza