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Court Reporter/

The court has announced the life imprisonment of expelled Jubo League leader contractor SM Gholam Kibria alias GK Shamim and his seven bodyguards in the Arms Act case at Gulshan police station in the capital.

Dhaka’s Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Sheikh Chamidul Islam announced the verdict at around 1:15 p.m. on Sunday. This is the first case against GK Shamim.

The other accused in the case are Delwar Hossain, Murad Hossain, Zahidul Islam, Shahidul Islam, Kamal Hossain, Samsad Hossain and Aminul Islam.

PP Salahuddin Howladar of the concerned court told to the media this information. He said, 10 witnesses have given in the case. The court announced this verdict in the presence of all the accused.

Advocate Shahinur Islam Ani, the lawyer of the accused, said, “We did not get justice. I will appeal to the high court if I get a copy of the verdict.

GK Shamim was arrested by RAB along with seven bodyguards at his office in Gulshan on September 20, 2019 when the anti-casino operation began. Later, RAB raided his house and office and seized eight firearms, large quantity of ammunition, FDR of Tk 165 crore and cash of around Tk 1 crore 81 lakh, huge amount of foreign currency and liquor. The next day, three cases were registered against him in Gulshan police station under arms, drugs and money laundering laws. Shamim is referred to as an extortionist, tender hunter, illegal drug and gambling dealer in the case report. The charge sheet in the arms case was submitted on October 27 of the same year.

On January 28, 2020, the same court rejected the accused’s plea of ​​acquittal and ordered the trial to begin. It is said in the complaint of the case that the accused Aminul Islam has obtained a license from the Jamalpur District Commissioner’s office, but the document was not verified. Later, he first joined SM Builders Company in 2017 with the fake documents of that weapon. Then in mid-2019, the accused joined GK as Shamim’s bodyguard. He basically purchased the illegal weapon for 70 thousand rupees and created documents through forgery.

Apart from this, the other accused have been licensed for arms on the pretext of security, but they violated the conditions and openly carried, displayed and used arms and earned huge amount of money anonymously through tendering, extortion, drug and gambling business by creating fear among the public.