Five persons have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment each on the charges of their involvements in killing a driver by torching his covered van having hurled a petrol bomb in the Kansat area under the Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj.
Rajshahi Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Anup Kumar gave the verdict in the convict’s presence on Thursday afternoon reports BSS.
The convicts are: Tofayel Hossain, Ferdous Ahmed,Mamun Hossain, Abu Bakkar and Sayem Ali.
They were also fined Tk10,000 each, and in case of default, one year more behind bars.
Under another section of the case, they were jailed for 10 more years each and fined Tk5,000, and, if defaulted, an additional year in jail.
Forty-nine other accused of the case were acquitted as the charges brought against them could not be proved. All of them are workers of BNP-Jamaat.
On March 3, 2015, The BNP-Jamaat activists hurled petrol bombs on a covered van bound for the Sonamasjid Land Port at Koilabari Bazar, killing its driver Shipon Hossain, 30, on the spot during their anti- government nationwide strike.
Abdul Mannan, elder brother of the victim, had lodged a murder case with Shibganj police station on the same day.
Upon completion of the investigation police pressed charges accusing 54 persons on April 24, 2016.
After examining the recorded depositions of 29 prosecution witnesses and other relevant evidences the tribunal handed down the aforesaid verdict.
Special Public Prosecutor (PP) Entajul Haque Babu conducted the case on behalf of the state while Advocate Mizanur Rahman defended the accused.