A Khulna court on Sunday sentenced two students of Khulna University (KU) to a 20-year rigorous imprisonment in a case filed over the explosive act.
The convicts—Nur Mohammad alias Anik and Mujahidul Islam alias Rafi—have also been fined Tk 100,000 each. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional six months of imprisonment.
Judge SM Ashikur Rahman, Khulna additional session judge court, pronounced the verdict on Sunday noon.
Nur Mohammad, from Manikganj, was a fourth year Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student while Mujahidul, from Bogura, a fourth year student of the statistics department.
The prosecutor Kazi Sabbir Ahmed said they were inspired by the ideology of neo-JMB, a militant outfit in Bangladesh. On 24 January in 2020, police raided the house they rented at Gollamari area nearby Khulna University campus and detained them. At that time, the law enforcement agency recovered a huge amount of explosive substances from their procession.
Later, a case was filed in the incident with Sonadanga police station on 25 January. They gave confessional statements before the court, the prosecutor added.