5 persons get death for killing journo's mother in Bangladesh

Five persons were sentenced to death by a Bangladeshi court today for murdering a woman during a robbery at a journalist's house in Manikganj district in 2010.

Manikganj Additional District Judge Al Mahmud Faizul Kabir pronounced the verdict which also includes a fine of 20,000 taka (USD 248) on each besides the capital punishment.

Uma Debi, the mother of journalist Manabendra Chakrabarti who worked with leading Bangla newspaper Daily Ittefaq Singair, was alone at her house when the five convicts struck in August, 2010, bdnews24 reported.

The convicts strangled Debi to death and fled with gold jewellery, it said.

Three of the convicts, Mohammad Issaq Bhuiyan, 40 Bacchu Miah, 45 and Shahidul Islam, 40 were present in the court during the hearing. Two others -- Iman Ali, 45 and Nannu Miah, 24 -- are absconding, the report said.
 

The verdict was announced after hearing the testimony of 13 witnesses, the report quoted the journalist's counsel Mothur Nath Sarkar as saying.

"We have received justice after seven years. We hope the absconding suspects are apprehended soon and that their sentences are carried out swiftly," Chakrabarti said.