UNB, Sylhet: A Sylhet court on Wednesday sentenced eight people to death and seven others to life term imprisonment for killing a schoolboy in Biswanath upazila in 2021.
Judge Syeda Amina Farhin of Sylhet Additional Session Judge Court-1 handed down the punishment.
The court also sentenced 17 others accused to two years of jail each.
The condemned convicts are Bangladeshi expatriate in UK Saiful Alam, Nazrul, Sadrul, Siraj, Jamal, Shahin, Abdul Jalil and Anwar while the lifers are Elias, Abdun Nur, Joynal, Ashique, Askir, Farid and Akbar.
According to the prosecution, Saiful Alam of Chaitannagar village in Biswanath Upazila had an enmity with Najir Uddin over digging the soil of a land owned by Najir.
An altercation ensued between them when Saiful tried to fill the road with the soil from the land of Najir on May 1, 2021.
When Najir along with his cousin Manik and his nephew Sumel Mia, 18, a class 10 student obstructed him Saiful opened fire on them, leaving Sumel dead on the spot and four others injured with bullets.
Ibrahim Ali Sijil, cousin of Sumel, filed a case against 27 people with Biswanath Police Station.
Rama Prosad Chakraborty, then officer-in-charge of Biswanath Police Station, submitted a chargesheet against 32 people.
On July 13, police produced the 30 accused before the court while another accused identified as Mamunur Rashid tried in absentia.
