One of Faridpur brothers Rubel, his associate get 17 years jail in arms case

A Faridpur court has sentenced former president of Faridpur press club Imtiaz Hasan Rubel and his associate Rezaul Karim Bipul to 17 years in jail in an arms case.

Faridpur Additional District and Sessions Judge Ashok Kumar Dutta pronounced the verdict on Sunday (18 February), court police inspector Abul Khayer confirmed The Business Standard.

The convicts were present in court during the announcement of the verdict. Later, they were sent back to jail.

According to court sources, the court sentenced them to 10 years jail for possessing arms while another seven years jail for possessing bullets. The convicts can serve both sentences concurrently.

According to the prosecution, Rubel is the brother of expelled general secretary of Faridpur district unit Awami League Sazzad Hossain Barkat. The siblings were close associates of former local government, rural development and cooperatives (LGRD) minister and former lawmaker of Faridpur-3 constituency Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.

Barkat and Rubel were arrested on 7 June 2020 for attacking then president of district unit Awami League Subal Chandra Saha's house. Seven more associates of Barkat-Rubel were also arrested in this connection. 

Abdul Jabbar, sub-inspector of Faridpur DB police, filed a case under the Arms Act.

Two separate cases were filed against expelled AL leader Barkat, Rubel and Bipul.

Barkat and Rubel were also accused in 11 more cases including one over laundering Tk2,000 crore.

Rubel and Bipul were accused in the arms case while Barkat and Rubel were implicated in the money laundering case.