Nine accused of murdering two university students in Sylhet have been awarded life sentence. The Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal’s judge Dilip Kumar Debnath gave the verdict on Thursday.Dipangkar Ghosh Anik and Khairul Kabir, both students Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), were murdered while trying to save female classmates from being kidnapped in 2011.
Those awarded life sentences are Guljar Mia alias Guljar Majhhi, Chhoeel Mia, Shahin Ahmad, Laal Mia, Saeem Mia, Jalal Mia, Rakib Ahmad, Abdullah and Selim Mia.
All of them hail from Nalkat village of Sylhet Sadar Upazila. Rakib Ahmad and Guljar Mia are absconding.
The court has also fined them Tk 20,000 each and if fail to pay, would have to stay one additional year in jail
The public prosecutor Kishore Kumar Kar said that the verdict came after the charges against the accused were proved.
Defence counsel Nasiruzzaman Nazim said they would appeal against the verdict.
On Dec 16, 2011, six students of SUST’s Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science department went on a boat-ride at the Chengerkhaal lake of Sylhet.
Five to six men on an engine-boat chased them when the boat carrying the students had stopped.
The men boarded the boat carrying the students and snatched their mobile phones and money.
Dipankar and Khairul were hit on the head and fell from the boat when the goons attacked them after the two tried to resist abduction of their female classmates on the boat.
Police recovered their bodies from the lake the next day.
SUST registrar Ishfaqul Hossain filed a case in the same day with the Jalalabad Police Station.
Police had arrested 11 including boatman Guljar Mia in connection with the incident.
On Mar 4, last year, the investigation officer submitted the chargesheet in the court of Sylhet’s Chief Judicial Magistrate accusing nine including Guljar for the killings.
Following a plea from the defence counsel, the court on May 7, 2012, ordered the police to investigate further.
Police submitted a supplementary chargesheet to the court on Jun 15 last year.
The charges were framed on Feb 25 this year at the Additional Judge’s court of Sylhet.
The trial began after the case was transferred to Sylhet’s Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal on May 25.
After a 43-day trial in which 28 witnesses testified and both prosecution and defence presented their case, the verdict was given on Thursday, a little more than two years after the murders.
