Death for 4 in Rajon killing case
--Quamrul, 3 others awarded death penalties
--One gets life, 5 different terms of imprisonment
-- Eight fined Tk 10,000 each, two Tk 1,000
--Three acquitted
A Sylhet court today sentenced four people including prime accused Quamrul Islam to death and another to life term imprisonment for beating 13-year-old Rajon to death in July this year.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge Akbar Hossain also jailed five other accused for different terms and acquitted three others as allegations brought against them were not proved.
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Quamrul, Zakir Hossain alias Pavel, Saddique Ahmed alias Boro Moyna alias Moyna Mia and Taz Uddin alias Badal received the capital punishment while Nur Ahmed alias Nuru Mia was sentenced to life in prison, reports our correspondents from the spot.
Apart from death penalty, Boro Moyna was also jailed for eight years on separate charges.
The court sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment to Shamim Ahmed, Ali Haider and Muhit Alam alias Muhid.
The court also fined the eight convicts Tk 10,000, in default, to suffer two years more in prison.
Two other accused -- Ayaz Ali and Dulal Ahmed -- were jailed for one year and fined Tk 1,000 each. If they fail to pay the money, they will have to serve two more months in jail.
Among the convicts, Pavel and Shamim are on the run.
The acquitted are: Feroz Ali, Asmat Ullah and Ruhul Amin alias Rubel.
On July 8, Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon was beaten to death by a group of brutes in Kumargaon Bus Stand area of Sylhet Sadar allegedly for trying to steal a rickshaw van.
Tied to a pole, he screamed for help, cried for water and begged for his life. But they laughed and jeered at him till the boy went silent, forever. One of them even filmed the horrendous incident and shared it on Facebook.
The 28-minute video footage went viral and shows Quamrul, in a black T-shirt and lungi, hitting the boy with a stick in the feet, joints of legs, shoulders and in the head.
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The sickening torture video shook the nation to its core and stirred outcries in the social network and the mainstream media.
On September 22, the court indicted 13 people on charges of beating Rajon to death.
Quamrul fled to Saudi Arabia soon after the incident. On July 13, some expatriate Bangladeshis spotted him in Jeddah, caught him and handed him over to the Bangladesh mission there. Later, Jeddah police took him into custody.
He was brought back from Saudi Arabia on October 15. On the following day, he was sent to jail by a Sylhet court.
Police took the Interpol's help to have him back as Dhaka has no extradition treaty with Riyadh.
A sub-inspector of Jalalabad Police Station was withdrawn allegedly for a deal with Quamrul and helping him flee to Saudi Arabia after the killing.
Alamgir Hossain, the then officer-in-charge, and Zakir Hossain, a sub-inspector of the same police station, were also suspended for negligence in arresting killers, illicit financial transaction and misconduct with Rajon's father, Sheikh Azizur Rahman.