The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

A special court Sunday sentenced detained Awami Swechhasebak League general secretary Pankaj Devnath to 13 years imprisonment and his wife to six years in a graft case. The court also fined Pankaj Tk 10,00,000, in default to suffer one year more in jail while his wife Tk 200,000, in default to suffer six months more in prison.

After examining the prosecution witnesses and records, judge M Firoze Alam pronounced the verdict and ordered confiscating their wealth worth about Tk 65 lakh they amassed "illegally".

In its judgment, the court, however, commuted to half the prison term of Pankaj's wife, Monika Devnath, who was tried in absentia. She would have to serve three years simple imprisonment instead of six years. The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against them for concealing information in their wealth statement submited to the ACC, as part of the current purge launched by the interim regime against corruption.

The couple was accused of amassing wealth worth about Tk 65 lakh, "disproportionate to their known sources of income".