RAJSHAHI, Mar 15, 2020 (BSS) – A court here today sentenced to death four persons, including a top-listed militant leader, in the verdict in sensational priest killing case in Panchagarh.
Priest Jageshwar of Shree Shree Santa Gorio Temple at Sonapata area of Devigonj Upazila in Panchagarh was slaughtered to death at an adjacent area of the nearby China Moitry Bridge on February 21, 2016.
Rajshahi Divisional Tribunal Judge Anup Kumar pronounced the verdict at around 11.30 am in the presence of three of the convicts.
The convicts are: Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, 30, Rajibul Islam, 30, Alamgir Hossain, 35, and Ramjan Ali, 22. Rajibul Islam has been tried in absentia.
Public Prosecutor Entajul Haqe Babu told the journalists that the convicts were also sentenced to five and 10 years behind the bar in two other cases of arms and explosives respectively. Besides, they were fined Taka 5,000 each in default to suffer one year more rigorous imprisonment.
He said three other accused of the case – Harej Ali, Khalilur Rahman and Saidul Islam – were acquitted as the charges brought against them could not be proved.
The prosecution story, in brief, is that a gang of extremists armed with firearms, lethal weapons and explosives slaughtered priest Jageshwar to death and badly injured one of his devotees.
Subsequently, elder brother of the deceased Rabindranath Roy had lodged a murder case with Devigonj Police Station accusing 10 persons. The police also filed two other cases related to arms and explosives against.