Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court handed down the sentence in presence of the convict Ashraf Uddin.

GM Gaus was hammered to death allegedly by his younger brother Ashraf Uddin as he (Gaus) protested his brother grabbing construction materials from his Motijheel residence at about 3:30pm on July 24, 2004.

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence had completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 21 prosecution witnesses.

Following the incident, victim's wife Feroza Begum filed a murder case against Ashraf with Motijheel Police Station the same day.

The investigation officer pressed charges against Ashraf on April 22 last year and the court framed charge against him on May 22 this year.

Earlier, Ashraf, now in the custody, was given 40 years' rigorous imprisonment in three criminal cases.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Shahidul Islam Sardar appeared for the state while ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukul defended the accused.