A Gaibandha court has sentenced ex-Jatiya Party MP Abdul Kader Khan to life imprisonment for murdering Awami League lawmaker Manjurul Islam Liton nearly two and a half years ago.
Judge Dilip Kumar Bhaumik delivered the verdict on Tuesday with Khan standing in the dock.
Three weapons were used in the killing of MP Liton, said Shafiqul Islam, the public prosecutor.
Kader Khan himself surrendered one of the weapons to the police station and another weapon was recovered from his village home. But the third weapon was not found yet as per his confessional statement, he said.
Khan, a retired army officer and the former MP from the same constituency, had masterminded the killing 'to clear his path for election', according to the case, reports bdnews24.
On the evening of December 31, 2016, unidentified assailants shot the ruling party MP from Gaibandha-1 (Sundarganj) constituency at his home several times. He died an hour later at a hospital in Rangpur.
On the basis of the assailants’ statements, Khan was arrested from his residence in Bogura on February 21, 2017.
Following the lead, police asked him to submit his licenced pistol and bullets to the police station. He handed over 10 of 40 bullets he had bought but failed to explain why he could not provide the other bullets, say police.
Khan had given the killers Tk 0.3 million initially and promised to give them more once he becomes an MP again, they said.
Liton’s sister Tahmida Bulbul started the case against five unidentified men, including Khan.