Gazipur: Five people have been sentenced to death and another to life term imprisonment for killing a businessman in Gazipur in 2008.

Gazipur Sessions Judge AKM Enamul Haque handed down the verdict on Sunday after examining the records and witnesses.

The condemned convicts were Yeakub Ali, Hannan alias Hanu, Manir Hossain, Delwar Hossain and Iqbal Hossain while the lifer was Masud alias Maissa of Dhirasrom in Gazipur city. All but Delwar were tried in absentia.

The court also fined the convicts Tk 10,000 each.

According to the prosecution, Abu Syed, a soil trader and son of Nurul Islam of Dhirasram area, was strangled to death by the convicts over previous enmity on 17 June 2008. They dumped the body near a rail track in the area.

Nurul Islam, father of the victim, filed a case against four people with Joydebpur Police Station on the following day.

Police arrested three people suspecting their involvement in the killing and following their confessional statement police arrested three others in this connection.

Later, police submitted a chargesheet against six people.