News Desk :
A Joypurhat court has sentenced 17 people to life imprisonment for murdering a man over a land dispute in 2009.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Abbas Uddin delivered the verdict in the presence of 16 defendants on Wednesday, according to state prosecutor Nripendra Nath Mandal.
Each convict was also fined Tk 10,000, while five others were acquitted in the case, he said.
Details of the convicts were not immediately available.
According to the case dossier, they had a longstanding dispute with Saleh Mohammad, a resident of Panchbibi Upazila’s Aima Rasulpur Chakpara village, over land, which had resulted in a lawsuit.
On May 2, 2009, Saleh was confronted by the convicts, who tied him to a mango tree and assaulted him with weapons.
They also forced him to drink water mixed with chilli powder, causing him to become incapacitated.
Saleh was later rescued by locals but succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.
On the same day, Saleh’s brother Azizul Haque filed a murder case with Panchbibi Police Station, naming 22 people.