Solved case · 2001
The short answer
Gopal Krishna Muhuri, principal of Nazirhat College in Chittagong, Bangladesh, was shot dead by multiple gunmen inside his home on 16 November 2001, weeks after a new government took office amid reports of attacks on religious minorities.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for Murder of Gopal Krishna MuhuriGopal Krishna Muhuri was the principal of Nazirhat College in Chittagong, Bangladesh. He was a Hindu and a former member of Mukti Bahini, the resistance force from Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war. As college principal, he had banned the student wing Islami Chattra Shibir from operating on campus. The Daily Star described the case as "sensational."
The killing occurred against a backdrop of political change: the Four Party Alliance, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, had come to power roughly five weeks before the incident. On 16 November 2001, multiple gunmen stormed Muhuri's home on Jamal Khan Road in Chittagong and shot him while he was reading the morning newspaper. He was 60 years old at the time of his death. The killing prompted protests from the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the Bangladesh Jubo League, and the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council.
Muhuri's family filed a murder case naming 12 people. On 3 February 2003, a Speedy Trial Tribunal in Chittagong sentenced four of the accused to death and four others to life imprisonment. During the course of the legal process, several accused died: one was killed on 29 June 2004 in a gunfight described as involving "criminals"; another was killed on 2 March 2005 in a gunfight with the Rapid Action Battalion; and two others, identified as Prof Jahirul Haque and Prof Tofazzal Ahamad, also died during the trial process.
In July 2006, the Bangladesh High Court confirmed the death sentences of four men — Nasir (alias Gittu Nasir), Azam, Alamgir Kabir (alias Baitta Alamgir), and Tasleem Uddin Montu. The court also confirmed life imprisonment sentences for Mohi Uddin and Habib Khan, both of whom had absconded and were not present when the verdict was delivered. Two other accused, Saiful Islam (alias Chhoto Saiful) and Shahjahan, were acquitted in the verdict. Of those charged, eight were reported to be members of Islami Chattra Shibir and three were professors at the college.
Gopal Krishna Muhuri, principal of Nazirhat College, was shot and killed by multiple gunmen inside his home on Jamal Khan Road, Chittagong, while reading the morning newspaper.
Speedy Trial Tribunal in Chittagong sentenced four accused to death and four others to life imprisonment.
One accused died in a gunfight with 'criminals'.
Another accused was killed in a gunfight with the Rapid Action Battalion.
Bangladesh High Court confirmed death sentences for four convicts and life imprisonment for two others; two accused were acquitted.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Principal of Nazirhat College, Chittagong; shot and killed in his home on 16 November 2001.[3]
Death sentence confirmed by Bangladesh High Court in July 2006.[3]
Death sentence confirmed by Bangladesh High Court in July 2006.[3]
Life imprisonment confirmed by Bangladesh High Court in July 2006; absconded during verdict.[3]
Life imprisonment confirmed by Bangladesh High Court in July 2006; absconded during verdict.[3]
Death sentence confirmed by Bangladesh High Court in July 2006.[3]
Death sentence confirmed by Bangladesh High Court in July 2006.[3]
Acquitted in the July 2006 Bangladesh High Court verdict.[3]
Acquitted in the July 2006 Bangladesh High Court verdict.[3]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Credit: Press Information DepartmentPublic domainSourceONGOINGListenChittagong Court, Chittagong, Bangladesh · 2020s
Saiful Islam Alif, a lawyer in Chittagong, Bangladesh, was fatally attacked on 26 November 2024 during unrest after Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das was denied bail in a separate sedition case. A court framed murder-related charges against 39 defendants in January 2026, and testimony began the following month; no verdict has been reported.
Credit: MD SAIFUL AMINCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenChittagong Circuit House, Chittagong, Bangladesh · 1980s
Bangladesh's sixth president, Ziaur Rahman, was shot dead on 30 May 1981 when a group of army officers attacked the Chittagong Circuit House where he was staying. A military court martial convicted eighteen officers, executing twelve of them; a thirteenth was later executed after recovering from wounds.
SOLVEDListenBandarban, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh · 2020s
A 20-year-old poultry farm manager in Bandarban, Bangladesh, was kidnapped for ransom in August 2023 and killed; police interrogated several coworkers as suspects, and a man arrested as the suspected mastermind was later lynched by a mob while being escorted to the crime scene.
Credit: CBS News / Travis Alexander (personal photo)Editorial useSourceSOLVEDListenMesa, Arizona, United States · 2000s
Travis Alexander, 30, was stabbed, slashed, and shot to death in his Mesa, Arizona home on June 4, 2008. His ex-girlfriend, Jodi Arias, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013 and sentenced to life without parole in 2015 after two juries deadlocked on the death penalty.
Credit: Prugna at Italian WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenVia della Pergola 7, Perugia, Italy · 2000s
British exchange student Meredith Kercher was found murdered in her Perugia flat on 2 November 2007. Rudy Guede was convicted of her sexual assault and murder in a fast-track trial. Kercher's roommate Amanda Knox and Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were separately convicted, then acquitted, reconvicted, and finally acquitted and declared innocent by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation in 2015.
SOLVEDListenMacon, Georgia, United States · 2011
Lauren Giddings, a recent Mercer University School of Law graduate studying for the bar exam, was strangled and dismembered in Macon, Georgia, in June 2011 by her neighbor and former classmate Stephen Mark McDaniel, who pleaded guilty in 2014.
