Court Correspondent :
The lone convict in the college teacher Krishna Kaberi murder was sentenced to death in absentia..
Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 Judge Shahed Nur Uddin announced the verdict on Thursday.
Convict Zahirul Islam Palash was a business associate of Krishna’s husband and BRTA official Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas, says case record.
The judge also fined Zahirul Tk 100,000 under Section-302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In addition to death penalty, he was given life imprisonment for assaulting Sitangshu and his children.
The inability to pay the fine will add another year to his imprisonment term. On Mar 30, 2015, Palash went to the couple’s home at Mohammadpur’s Iqbal Road to greet Krishna’s husband Sitangshu on his birthday with cake, sweets and flowers.
Biswas lost consciousness after drinking fruit juice which Palash had spiked. He then assaulted him with a hammer.
When Krishna tried to save her husband, she was also battered mercilessly along with Sitangshu. Her saree caught fire from the candle’s on the cake and she was burnt badly.
When their daughters ‘Shruti’, 14, and ‘Atri’, 8, shouted for help, they were also attacked by Zahirul. Krishna, who taught at the Mission International College in Dhaka’s Adabar, succumbed to the burn injuries at hospital the next day.
Kaberi’s husband Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas is a director at BRTA.
His brother Shudhangshu Shekhar Biswas had filed the murder case with Mohammadpur Police Station making Zahirul the lone accused.
Sub-Inspector Delowar Hossain, the case’s investigating officer, submitted the charges to court on May 30, 2016 after a year of investigation.
Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas had opened a Beneficiary Owner Account or BO account through Haji Ahmed Brothers Securities with Tk 800,000, said the charge sheet of the case.
Zahirul attempted to kill Sitangshu over the money.
After being indicted on April 2017, Zahirul gave a confessional statement in a court.
At least twenty-two witnesses testified in the case.
