A Shariatpur court on Wednesday sentenced five persons to death for murdering a woman after gang rape at Damudya upazila in the district in 2019.
At the same time, the court also fined them Tk one lakh each.
Shahriatpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunals Judge Sohel Ahmed announced the verdict at around 1:30 pm.
The condemned convicts are Nizam Bali, 45, Mohammad Ali, 35, Omar Faruk Bepari, 24, Al Amin Bepari, 20, and Ibrahim Molla, 21, residents of Dakshin Shitalakathi area under Damudya upazila.
Advocate Sanal Mia, public prosecutor of the court, confirmed the matter.
Two of them were present in the court. They were sent to the district jail on the order of the court. Three more accused are absconding.
According to the case statement, the victim Feroza Begum, 55, hailed from Bhuiyan Bazar area under Dhankathi union of Damudya upazila, disappeared from her home on April 18, 2019 at around 5 pm. Then on April 21, police recovered her body from an abandoned pond in Baro Naogaon area 10 kilometers from her home.
The day after the incident, the woman's younger brother Lal Mia Sardar filed a murder case in the Shariatpur court naming 13 people as the plaintiff.
As five of the accused were involved, police submitted a charge sheet against them. The rest of the accused were acquitted from the charge sheet.
The five convicts confessed to the court that they had raped and killed the woman.
The court delivered the verdict after taking depositions of 22 witnesses.
