Man to die for murdering daughter

A Pirojpur court yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing his daughter and another to life imprisonment for murdering his wife in 2005 and 2009 respectively.

The death penalty awardee is Maharaj Hawlader of Bhechki village in Mathbaria upazila, while Selim Bepari of Tetulbariya village in the upazila was jailed for life.

Judge SM Zillur Rahman of Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court also fined Selim Tk 20,000. In default, he is to suffer one __more year in jail.

According to the prosecution, Maharaj opened a 10-year term deposit pension scheme (DPS) with a local bank in the name of his eight-year-old daughter Jesmin Akhter Rinku in 2005.

After depositing an instalment of Tk 1,000 on May 4, Maharaj strangled Rinku the same night and later dumped her body in a canal in a bid to establish the incident as an accident and claim the DPS money without paying its regular instalments.

After the autopsy, when the reality came to light Maharaj went into hiding.

Later, Sub-inspector Mustafizur Rahman of Mathbaria Police Station filed a case against Maharaj.

In another case, Selim beat his wife Aklima Begum to death allegedly over a family feud on July 8 in 2009.

Victim's brother Abul Kalam filed a case with Mathbaria Police Station accusing Selim the following day.