Two brothers to die, 10 get life

The convicts with death are Mamun Shath and Omar Shath while three brothers Hanif Shath, Ali Shath and Aslam Shath and Selim, Jahangir, Babul alias Heroin Babul, Moktar, Abdul Mannan, Akmal and Anwar were given life in jail.

Of them, Jahangir, Omar, Akmal and Anwar were present in the court during the delivery of the verdict while the rest were tried in absentia.

The punishment of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender and the convicts with death can appeal to the High Court against the judgement within seven days from receipt of the judgement copy, the judge said.

Judge Mohammad Shamsul Haque of the Seventh Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court handed down the sentence at a packed courtroom.

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 15 prosecution witnesses.

According to the prosecution, Delwar, 35, was killed by a group of miscreants led by Mamun at about 7.45 pm on July 27, 2001 while he (Delwar) along with his friends was discussing about business. The victim was killed following a feud over previous enmity. Moreover, the victim protested the accused's extortion from the shops of Alam Shopping Plaza and other business institutions, sources said.

Thousands of people from Keraniganj gathered on the court premises and chanted slogans demanding capital punishment to the culprits.

Victim's elder brother Abdur Rashid expressed his satisfaction over the verdict.

Meanwhile, additional police forces were deployed on the court premises to avoid any untoward incident.

District Public Prosecutor Mohammad Mohsin Mia appeared for the state while advocates Mahbub Ahmed and AFM Abdul Wadud for the accused.