Three to die, 5 get life term in two Khulna cases

KHULNA, July 27: A court in Khulna on Monday sentenced three people to death for the 2018 murder of a man over a dispute related to a business establishment in Batiaghata Upazila of the district.

The court also fined each of the convicts Tk 20,000, while acquitting another accused due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fourth Court) Md Khurshid Alam pronounced the verdict.

The convicted persons were present in the courtroom when the judgment was delivered, Court Bench Assistant Md Shah Alam confirmed the news.

The death-row convicts are Khurshid Alam, Abdus Salam and Khairul Sheikh. Another accused, Ershad, was acquitted.

According to the prosecution, the incident occurred around 8am on March 31, 2018, when Rezaul Sheikh was near his shop at Jhalbari village market.

Four assailants, who had been lying in wait, attacked him with bamboo sticks, striking him repeatedly on the head and other parts of the body.

When the victim's younger brother attempted to intervene, he was also assaulted. Rezaul was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

The case was filed later that evening by the victim's younger brother, Mejbah Uddin, with Batiaghata Police Station, naming four accused.

The prosecution said the murder stemmed from a long-standing dispute over ancestral property and the construction of a shop on the land.

Following the investigation, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Inspector Md Golam Rasul submitted the charge sheet against the four accused on September 11, 2019. 

In another verdict delivered on Sunday,  Judge Md Khurshid Alam of the Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court-4 sentenced five people to life imprisonment and also fined each Tk 20,000, in default to serve more three months in prison, for murdering a visually impaired elderly woman in Dighalia Upazila of the district in a 2011. Court Bench Assistant Md Shah Alam confirmed the matter.

The convicts are Anowara Begum, her son Ismail Sheikh alias Babu, and son-in-law Shamim Sheikh, all residents of Southpara in Dighalia, Raju alias Raju Munshi, son of Nazrul Islam Munshi of Maheshwarpasha in Khulna city, and Ilias Sheikh, son of Sher Ali of Deyara Uttarpara in Terokhada Upazila of Khulna.

According to the prosecution, a gang of robbers entered Nasiruzzaman’s house in his and his family members’ absence on July 19, 2011 and slit the throat of Nasiruzzaman’s visually impaired mother Rashida Begum with a sharp weapon. Later, the robbers fled with Tk 20,000 in cash and gold ornaments. Later, Nasiruzzaman and neighbours entered the house and found her dead.

Nasiruzzaman filed a murder case against unidentified persons with Dighalia Police Station (PS) on July 20, 2011. Dighalia PS Sub-Inspector Asaduzzaman submitted a charge sheet against the five accused on March 12, 2013.

PP ATM Moniruzzaman said investigators recovered a sandal from the crime scene, which led to the arrest of Shamim Sheikh. During the investigation, police found that Shamim had worked as a domestic helper at the victim’s house and had allegedly provided information about the family’s movements to the other accused.