In a bid to establish dominance in local politics and business, Nur Hossain, a local Awami League leader, planned to kill his archrival Nazrul Islam, panel mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation.

Nur hired Rab men to carry out the plot, as he had “good relations” with some members of the elite force in Narayanganj.

From an informant in Nur's gang, Nazrul's father-in-law Shahidul Islam came to know about the plot some 15 days before the seven-murder incident.

Nazrul and his family members then contacted an influential Narayanganj politician, who advised Nazrul to hide elsewhere for some days.

On his advice, Nazrul hid himself in an unknown location in the capital. But he had to travel to Narayanganj to appear before a court on April 27, 2014 in connection with a criminal case.

Later that day, Nazrul along with Moniruzzaman Swapan, Tajul Islam, Liton and his driver Jahangir Alam was returning to the capital in a microbus. As they reached Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium at Fatullah, another microbus waylaid them. The five were abducted.

Senior lawyer of Narayanganj court Chandan Sarkar and his driver Ibrahim were also abducted and killed apparently because they witnessed the abduction.

Hearing the news of abduction, Nazrul's family members met the influential Narayanganj politician whom they had contacted earlier. The politician asked them to approach Rab.

Then, they along with Nazrul's followers besieged the Rab camp office in Narayanganj city.

“I even met Rab-11 officials, and offered them more money for Nazrul's release than what they had got from Nur Hossain,” Shahidul told The Daily Star yesterday, recalling the day's happenings.

“While testifying before a Narayanganj court, I talked about my offer to the Rab men,” he said.

On April 28, 2014, Nazrul's wife Selina Islam accused Rab men of abducting her husband and others, but the elite force refuted the allegations.

The following day, the home ministry withdrew four officials of law enforcement agencies, including the then Rab-11 commanding officer Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, from Narayanganj, citing deterioration in law and order as the reason.

Suspicion among the victims' families and locals about Rab's involvement grew stronger when the bodies of Nazrul and the other six were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river. The bodies were tied to sacks filled with bricks. The sacks carried government seals for ration goods.

The bricks were similar to those used in an under-construction building for Rab, locals alleged at that time.

On May 4 that year, Shahidul alleged that Rab members killed Nazrul in exchange for Tk 6 crore from Nur, the then vice president of Siddheshwari Thana AL unit. The following day, Shahidul claimed a ruling party lawmaker's son brokered the deal with Rab men.

The alleged involvement of several officials and members of the disciplined force triggered huge protests in Narayanganj and also other parts of the country.

Later, Tareque along with the then company commanders Maj Arif Hossain and Lt commander SM Masud Rana were given forced leave from the defence services for their alleged involvement in the abduction and killing. And Nur was expelled from the AL.

But given the reality, arrest and trial of such influential Rab officials seemed unlikely.

Following a writ petition over the seven-murder, the High Court issued a set of directives considered by many as a significant step towards ensuring justice for the victims' families.

The court ordered arrest of the three Rab officials, and also a probe into the incident, mentioning that no Rab man could be engaged in the investigation.

Following the HC order, the trio were arrested and put behind bars.

They gave statements before a court, confessing to their involvement in the murders. They first used anesthetics on the victims, and then strangled them at Kanchpur. Later, they put the bodies in Rab boats under the Kanchpur Bridge, tied those to sacks filled with bricks and dumped in the confluence of the Meghna river.

Several other members of the elite force were also arrested for their alleged involvement in the abduction and murder.

Rab also carried out a probe on its own, and submitted a report to the HC in December 2014, saying it found involvement of 21 of its men in the seven-murder. Among them, Tareque and Arif were involved in it throughout.

In April 2015, investigation officers of the two cases filed over the seven-murder submitted probe reports to the Narayanganj court, accusing 35 people. Of them, 25 were Rab men, including the three officials. The rest are Nur and his nine cohorts.

According to the charge sheets, Nur had enmity with Nazrul, and Nur paid the Rab officials to abduct and kill Nazrul.

Being the commander of the force, Tareque ordered his subordinates to abduct and kill the seven persons and hide the bodies with the intention of getting financial benefits by breaching the force's discipline.

Arif and Masud directly took part in the crime, and the other Rab members, whose names were mentioned in the charge sheets, participated in the offence at different stages.

Following the charge framing on February 8 last year, the Narayanganj District and Sessions Judge's Court recorded testimonies of 106 witnesses and heard arguments from the prosecution and the defence before fixing January 16 for delivering verdict.

The court handed down death penalty to 26 accused and jailed nine others for various terms -- from seven to 17 years.

Twenty-five of the convicts are from Rab, and 16 of them, including Tareque, Arif and Masud, were sentenced to death.

Never before in the country's history have so many members of a disciplined force been given death penalty for abduction and murders of civilians.

Earlier in November 2013, a total of 152 people, including 150 members of erstwhile BDR were sentenced to death in the case over the 2009 Pilkhana carnage.

The families of the seven-murder victims as well as political leaders have hailed the judgment.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on Tuesday said no offenders, however big they may be, would get impunity.

“Some influential accused officials of the Rapid Action Battalion committed the gruesome seven murders with an attitude of impunity, which have stunned the nation. The offenders have been put on trial at the timely interference of the Supreme Court.

“People's faith in the judiciary has increased as the trial of the case has been completed within the shortest possible time,” he said.

Family members and their lawyers also lauded the role of the HC and the Narayanganj court. They said the judiciary deserves kudos for bringing the killers to book.

Many believe the landmark verdict is a lesson not only for Rab but also for all other forces amid a rise in incidents of enforced disappearance. It also gave a signal to the agencies that none is above the law.

According to rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, at least 97 people fell victim to enforced disappearance last year. Of them, 26 were later shown arrested by law enforcers and three were returned to their families.

In 2015, the number of victims of enforced disappearance was 55, said ASK.

On several occasions, different national and international rights organisations demanded that the government conduct judicial inquiry into all such incidents and bring the people responsible to book. But their calls have gone unheeded.

At the two-day conference of Rab commanding officers which ended at its headquarters yesterday, the high-ups of the elite force asked their field-level officials to consider the seven-murder incident as a lesson and check recurrence of such incident.

“We have discussed the seven-murder issue. If anyone in the force commits any offence going beyond his mandate, he will not be spared,” Rab Director General Benazir Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.

He noted that they had not tolerated any misdeed by any member of the force in the past and would not do so in the future. Such members would face trial under the law.

The Rab DG further said they want to keep Rab “clean” and would do whatever necessary to ensure that.