ABM Faisal, 18, an HSC examinee, who had ranked 10th in the SSC examinations in 1998 from Dhaka Board, was killed by a gang of assailants at their Azimpur home on February 3, 2000.

The convicts are Ibrahim alias Sumon, Gopal Kumar Saha, Atiqur Rahman alias Sohel and Parul, a domestic help at the victim's home. Of the convicts, Sohel and Parul were present in court yesterday, while Sumon and Gopal have been evading arrest since the murder.

Judge Hossain Shahid Ahmad of the Court of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge delivered the verdict at a crowded courtroom.

The judge took his seat at 12:05pm and read out the important portions of the 48-page judgement in 30 minutes.

The victim's parents MM Anwar Hossain, project director of the agriculture ministry, and Tanzeem Saleha, assistant vice-president and deputy manager of the Prime Bank Ltd., were present when the judgement was pronounced.

On hearing the verdict, they said they had expected that the accused would be sentenced to death.

Following the murder, Anwar filed a case with Lalbagh Police Station the same day without mentioning names of any suspects.

In the FIR, he stated that the assailants entered his flat at Azimpur government staff quarters at around 5:00pm on February 3, 2000, killed his son and took away gold ornaments, prize bonds, share certificates, valuable articles worth Tk 12.21 lakh and Tk 25,000 in cash.

During the investigation, Parul gave a judicial statement to a magistrate on February 15, 2000 as a witness. In her statement, she said the victim's cousin Sumon and three others came to the house in the afternoon on the day of the incident and she opened the door to let them in.

They went to Faisal's room and demanded the key to a locker.

When Faisal refused to give them the key, the visitors stabbed him with a dagger that Sumon pulled out of his pocket.

Parul said she tried to intervene, but the visitors also attacked her with a stick. The maid said she fainted and could not remember what happened afterwards.

But an investigation revealed that Parul was also involved in the crime and when she was arrested as an accused in the case, she divulged the facts. Later, she gave a confessional statement to a magistrate.

The investigation officer of the case pressed charges against the four on January 15, 2001.

The court framed charges against them on April 27 last year and the trial began on July 15.