A Rangpur court has sentenced five BNP men to 10 years in jail in a subversion case filed around 10 years back.
Rangpur Additional District and Sessions Judge Court-1 Judge Krishna Kanta Roy passed the verdict on Monday in presence of one convict.
The court also fined the convicts Tk 10, 000 each, in default, they will have to serve six more months’ jail.
The convicts are -- district unit BNP member secretary Anisur Rahman Laku, city unit member secretary Advocate Mahfuz-Un-Nabi, city unit Juba Dal Senior Joint Convenor Jahir Alam Nayon, district unit Juba Dal President Tarek Hasan Sohag and party activist Arif Hossain.
Of them, Mahfuz was present in the court room while the rest are now absconding.
Meanwhile, district unit BNP and Juba Dal general secretaries Raich Ahmed and Shamsul Haque Jhantu were relieved of charges in the case as they have already died.
According to the case statement, on May 19, 2013, a day before beginning a shutdown called by Juba and Swechasebak Dal, police arrested the accused while they attempt to set a Dhaka-bound bus on fire near Rangpur Polytechnic Institute.
Police also seized 56 crude bombs and other equipment from their possession.
Officer-in-charge Chandan Kumar Chakraborty filed the case accusing the BNP men with Kotwali police station in this connection.
Defense lawyer Advocate Aftab Hossain said he will appeal the verdict with the High Court.
