The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday acquitted all the accused in sensational Rushdania Islam Bushra rape and murder case by allowing appeals of two prime accused including Awami League leader M Abdul Kader and dismissed appeal of the state against acquittal order for the another two. A four-member Appellate Division panel headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order, allowing appeal of MA Kader and his wife Runu Kader against the High Court order that sentenced Kader to death and Runu to life imprisonment for the sensational crime that was committed in Dhaka in 2000. MA Kader was relief and social welfare secretary of the ruling party’s Dhaka city unit during the incident. The apex court also dismissed state appeal against the 2007 High Court order that acquitted Kader's brothers-in-law Sheikh Shawkat Ahmed and Sheikh Kabir Ahmed. Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain appeared for the accused persons while deputy attorney general Khondaker Dilruzzaman represented the state. After the apex court order, Khondaker Dilruzzaman told reporters that the High Court had acquitted two accused persons and upheld the trial court verdict for another two persons in the case. We have appealed against the High Court verdict that had acquitted two accused in the case. But, the apex court has dismissed our petition, he added. The apex court has also allowed the two appeals filed by the two convicted persons.  With this order, all the accused persons have been acquitted of the charges, he noted. Dhaka City College student Rushdania Islam Bushra, nicknamed Phool, was raped and subsequently murdered in her house on July 1, 2000. Bushra, daughter of late Serajul Islam, was allegedly killed over a land grab move by the convicts. Islam was a retired assistant superintendent of police. A special tribunal in 2003 sentenced Kader and his two relatives to death and his wife to life imprisonment. In 2007, the High Court acquitted Shawkat and Kabir, upholding sentences of Kader and Runu.