Our Correspondent :
A court in Gaibandha sentenced eight accused including a Jamaat leader to life imprisonment until death over the murder of farmer Hasan Ali at Palashbari upazila in the district.
At the same time, each of the accused was fined Tk 1 lakh.
Besides, the rest eight accused in the case were acquitted.
Judge Dilip Kumar Bhowmik of Gaibandha District and Sessions Judge’s court, handed
down the verdict on Thursday afternoon, 22 years after the murder. At that time, 13, out of 16 accused, were present at the court. Public Prosecutor Shafiqul Islam Shafique confirmed the matter.
The convicts are Maulana Nazrul Islam Lebu, Abdur Rouf, Jalal Uddin, Golam Mostafa, Shah Alam, Faruque Mia, Mizanur Rahman and Abu Taleb alias Gawra. All of them hail from Palashbari upazila.
According to the case details, a conflict broke out between Prof Md Abdul and the ten upazila chairman and district Jamaat’s organising secretary Nazrul Islam Lebu sometime in August 1999 over the recruitment of principal at Palashbari Adarsha Degree College.
Later, Nazrul’s followers attacked Abdul over the incident.
At that time, farmer Hasan Ali from the nearby village Suigram came forward to save Abdul. Injured Hasan Ali rushed to Rangpur Medical College Hospital where he succumbed while underwent treatment on August 22, 1999.
Later, Abul Kashem, elder brother of Hasan Ali, filed a case against 16 people on August 24, 1999. After a lengthy investigation, police submitted a chargesheet to court on May 31, 2000. Testimony ended on March 3, 2021. At that time, the judge fixed November 18 for handing down the verdict.
