Staff Reporter:

Seven persons were sentenced to various terms in Sirajganj on Sunday by two separate courts.

Of them, a court sentenced six persons, including a woman, to life term imprisonment for killing a farmer following a dispute over unpaid debt.

District and Sessions Judge Md. Iqbal Hossain handed down the verdict on Sunday (August 23) noon. The court also fined Tk 20,000 each, in default; they will have to suffer six more months in jail.

The convicts are Manik Hossain alias Heera Manik, Mahmudul Hasan Nayan, Rubel Miah, Shariful Islam, Rabeya Khatun, and Shahadat Hossain.

According to Public Prosecutor (PP) Shakil Mohammad Shariful Haider, all six convicts were sent to prison immediately after the verdict was announced.

According to the case statement, Chhanowar Hossain and Heera Manik were good friends. Heera Manik borrowed Tk 2.20 lakh from Chhanowar promising to pay within short time.

However, they engaged in an altercation and tension grew between them, when Heera Manik failed to pay the borrowed money in time to Chhanowar even after frequent requests for money back.

On the evening of July 8, 2020, Heera Manik called Chhanowar out over the cell phone, after which he did not return to home. Since then, Chhanower went missing. Four days later on July 12, locals found his body floating in the Surya River in Ullapara.

After the incident, victim’s wife Selina Khatun lodged a case with respective police station in this connection accusing six persons including Heera Manik.

Police submitted charge sheet to the court on April 30, 2022. After examining witnesses and evidence during the trial, the court found all six guilty and delivered the verdict in a crowded court.

On the other hand, another court sentenced a youth to 10 years imprisonment and fined Tk 50,000, in default to pay fine, he will has to suffer six more months in jail on charge of selling fake cigarette. The convict is Ruhul Amin Shuvo.

Md. Nazrul Islam, Judge of District and Sessions Judge Court-3 in Sirajganj delivered the verdict on the same day.

The case statement revealed that, on December 31, 2023, RAB-12 in a raid at Ramarchar area on the Hatikumrul-Bonpara highway recovered a total of 49,000 packets of Derby cigarettes with fake bandrolls from the inside of a covered-van after a search. During the time, RAB members also arrested Ruhul Amin Shuvo from the spot.