A court here yesterday sentenced a man to death and five others to life imprisonment for killing a man in Debidwar upazila of the district in 2001.

The death penalty awardee is Jahangir Alam while the lifers are Foyez Ahmed, Shamimuzzaman Babu, Emdadul Haque, Nazmul Hossain and Rafiqul Islam. They all are from Elahabad village of the upazila.

Among the lifers, Foyez Ahmed, Shamimuzzaman Babu and Rafiqul Islam were tried in absentia.

The Court of Additional Sessions Judge fined the lifers Tk 50,000 each, in default, they are to suffer six months more in jail.

According to the prosecution, Anwar Hossain of the village was murdered over a land dispute on August 10, 2001.

On the following day, Shahadat Hossain, son of Anwar, filed a murder case with Debidwar Police Station, accusing 12 people, including Jahangir. After investigation, police pressed charges against the accused on April, 30, 2002.

After examining the record of the case and 16 witnesses, Judge Chemon Ara Chowdhury handed down the verdict. She acquitted six other accused as charges brought against them could not be proved.