A Jamalpur court yesterday condemned five men to death after they were found guilty of killing a six-year-old back in 2001.
The five – Tofayel Ahmed Hira, Sohel Rana Shipon, Anwar Hossain, Lokman Ali and Ainul Haque – were also fined Tk5,000 each.
Waheduzzaman Shikder, judge of Jamalpur Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court, pronounced the verdict.
Three of the convicts - Tofayel, Sohel and Anwar - are currently fugitives.
Faruq Hossain, another accused in the case, was acquitted as he was found innocent.
On the night of May 31, 2001, Tofayel took six-year-old Mustakim Billah out of the house in Jamalpur’s Amlapara area and smothered him with the connivance of four others.
They then dumped the body at the site of a building which was under construction in Nandina Kharkharia area.
Tofayel is the victim’s cousin and Lutfor is an expatriate in the US. It was found that Tofayel killed the child with an ill motive for grabbing properties owned by Mustakim’s family.
Police detained Tofayel after the killing, and recovered Mustakim’s body after 79 days based on information obtained from him.
The victim’s maternal uncle Ashraf Hossain later filed two cases – one for abduction and another for murder – accusing six people, including Tofayel.