Those were acquitted are Alamgir Siddique, Nasir Siddique and Shawkat Siddique, sons of Abu Bakkar of Rahmatpur village, Shawpan, son of Sona Mia of Kolatala village, Bablu Mollah, son of Hamesh Mollah of Chargao in Sadar upazila, and Manik, son of Abdul Hai of the same upazila.
Of them, Alamgir Kabir and Shawkat are now in jail and others have been on the run.
The HC bench of Justice Krishna Debnath and Justice Shahidul Karim handed down the verdict after hearing the death reference and appeals filed by the convicts challenging the lower court judgment.
The court also upheld the death sentence of Saidul Islam alias Sayed Fakir, son of Atiar Rahman of Borobaria village, and Saifur Rahman alias Bablu Kazi, son of Abdul Haque Kazi of Ghola village in the upazila.
According to the case statement, Kalidas Boral was killed when a group of assailants opened fire at him at Sadhana intersection in the district town on August 20, 2000.
Victim’s wife Happy Boral filed a murder case with Bagerhat Model Police Station the following day.
Later, a Bagerhat court awarded death plenty to fived accused and life term to three others on June 5, 2013.