A Khulna court on Wednesday sentenced four people to life imprisonment for the murder of Rihad Hossain, a Class VI student of Rayermohol Secondary School.

The convicts are Raju Sheikh alias Gangua, Shamim alias Sabuj Moral, Nur Alam Siddique alias Collins alias Badsha, and Jayanta. The verdict was confirmed by court bench assistant Nazrul Islam.

Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court-1 Judge Nazmus Shahadat delivered the verdict. The court also fined each of the four convicts Tk 20,000, in default of which they will serve six more months in jail.

The court also handed down separate sentences under two other sections of the law and fined them accordingly. Another accused in the case, Abul Kalam Azad, was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk 5,000, in default of which he will serve one more month in jail.

According to the court records, Rihad, a student of Rayermohol Secondary School in Khulna, left home on December 6, 2013, around 6pm with his father's easy bike to carry passengers at Mostofa's Mor.

After reaching the area, several people hired his vehicle and took it to an unknown location. Rihad went missing from that day.

Before disappearing, he informed the garage owner through his mobile phone that he would be late returning home. As he did not return, his family contacted the garage owner, but no further information about him was found.

On December 9, an unidentified body was recovered from Dumuria Panchu Khal, and after seeing reports in local newspapers, family members identified it as Rihad's body at Khulna Medical College Hospital. Doctors found injury marks on his throat caused by a sharp weapon.

Following the discovery, Rihad's uncle Sheikh Jahangir filed a murder case against unidentified persons with Dumuria Police Station.