Two get life for rape, murder

Two people have been sentenced to life term rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined Tk 50,000 each, in default, to suffer RI for five more years for rape and murder of a woman in Nilphamari.
Additional District and Sessions Judge of Nilphamari M Ansar Ali handed down the verdict in a crowded courtroom on Thursday.
The convicts are Kamrul Islam, 33, son of Ibrahim Ali and Jewel Hossain, 35, son of village Chengmari Baroghat under Jaldhaka upazila.
According to the prosecution, the convicts, both masons, raped their female colleague Shefali Khatun, 35, wife of Amir Ali who has been missing for eight years.
Due to extreme poverty, Shefali had to become a mason to earn livelihoods in absence of her husband for a long time.
As Shefali fell pregnant and the matter became known to others, Kamrul and Jewel tactfully called her out of her house on March 23 in 2005 in the afternoon. They slaughtered her and threw the body in the Charalkata river under Kochua union in Sadar upazila of the district.
The then OC of Nilpha-mari Sadar police station Sohrab Hossain recovered the body on the next day and filed a murder case in this connection following an autopsy.
The OC arrested the two suspected masons and they admitted committing rape and killing Shefali during interrogation.
Later, the OC, who was also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted charge sheet against the two accused.
After hearing of the case, the court found the two guilty and pronounced the verdict on Thursday.
Additional Public Prosecutor of Nilphamari and senior advocate Akhshay Kumar Roy appeared for the state while senior advocate Nurul Ahsan Helal defended the accused.