US jails BD-origin for murder

A US citizen of Bangladeshi origin has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of his uncle, also a naturalised US citizen, in Munshiganj five years ago over a longstanding ancestral property dispute.

The convict, 54-year-old Ganet Rozario, a resident of the Bronx in New York City, had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of foreign murder of a US national in Munshiganj, the statement said. Rozario used a shotgun to kill his uncle, Michael Rozario.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the US Justice Department’s Criminal Division and US Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York announced the verdict on Thursday, according to the US Department of Justice.

They had been involved in a years-long property dispute over the family home in Munshiganji, where both were staying during a visit to Bangladesh in 2021.

On the evening of Jun 11, 2021, Ganet went outside the home to smoke near his uncle’s bedroom window when the latter was inside.

Michael verbally abused Ganet, which prompted the convict to retaliate with a gunshot, say the court documents.

“Ganet fired a single shot through an opaque window shutter striking Michael on his right stomach and abdomen area, killing him,” the dossier adds.

He returned to the US in July 2023 and was indicted in April 2024.

The FBI Los Angeles and New York Field Offices investigated the case in association with the FBI’s Legal Attaché in Dhaka and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

Acting Deputy Chief Frank Rangoussis of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik for the Southern District of New York are the prosecutors.