Calcutta, March 31: Calcutta High Court today upheld the life sentences awarded to Nurul Islam and Taulat Sultana for the murder of Forward Bloc MLA Ramjan Ali a decade ago.

Ali, the legislator from Goalpara in North Dinajpur, was killed in the MLA?s hostel at Kyd Street in the state capital in November 1994. Investigations had revealed that Ali?s wife Taulat had conspired with Nurul, with whom she had an illicit relationship, to kill the MLA.

Sleuths learnt that Taulat had made 11 telephone calls to Nurul in Delhi and sent him Rs 2,000 to come to Calcutta. Nurul had hired a room in a hotel on Mirza Galib Street. On November 20, 1994, Nurul strangulated Ali, while the legislator was asleep.

In January 1995, police arrested Taulat from her home in Kishengunj in Bihar. On February 27 of the same year, they nabbed Nurul from Raigunj in North Dinajpur.