3 to walk gallows for killing schoolboy in Sherpur

A Sherpur court yesterday sentenced three people to death and another to life imprisonment for killing a schoolboy after abduction last year.

The death penalty awardees are Md Abdul Latif, 22, uncle of the schoolboy, Robin Mia, 20, son of Faruk Mia, and Md Aslam Babu, 22, son of late Abdul Hakim. They all hail from Sherpur Sadar upazila.

The lifer is Md Imran Hossain, 20, son of Nazrul Islam. He is from Nalitabari upazila of the district.

Judge Sayedur Rahman Khan of Sherpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal pronounced the verdict in presence of the four, Special Public Prosecutor Gulam Kibria told local newsmen.

The victim, Arafat Islam Rahat, was a Class I student of Biplop-Lopa Memorial School and son of Shahidul Islam Khokon of Gridanarayanpur area in Sherpur town.

A gang picked up Arafat from in front of Shaheed Daroga Ali Municipal Park while he was going to his father's timber shop in the town's Shibbari area on August 2 last year

The abductors later demanded Tk 2 lakh as ransom from Shahidul over mobile phone. Shahidul informed the police of the matter and sought their help to rescue his son.

As police started operation to rescue the boy, the gang took Arafat to a hill area in Nalitabari and strangled him. Police recovered the decomposed body of Arafat from the area near Modhutila Eco Park in Nolitabari on August 8.

Rahat's father accused three in the case he filed with Sherpur Sadar Police Station. The police arrested the four after the case was filed. Latif and his accomplices confessed to the murder to the police.

Bashir Ahmed Badal, a sub-inspector of Sadar Police Station, investigated the incident and pressed charges against the four on January 21 this year.

The tribunal examined the evidence and 27 witnesses during the trial of the case.