A local court in Balurghat on Tuesday ordered life imprisonment to six persons who were convicted in the murder of a Trinamul worker in the town.

On January 12, 2014, Ramprasad Haldar, a TMC worker, was found dead in a swamp near the local aerodrome.

He had, on receiving a phone call on January 11 night, left home and didn’t return. Haldar was a resident of Chinnamastapally area of the town.

Amal, his father, filed a complaint with Balurghat police, naming seven persons for murdering his son. The police nabbed all seven, but Prabir Seal, an accused, died in a road accident.

The police filed the chargesheet and the trial began at the court of the additional district and sessions judge.

On Monday, the court convicted the six — Rakesh Das, Ranjit Biswas, Joydeb Das, Ananda Nunia, Shyamal Hansda and Suradip Das.

“The court announced the verdict today (Monday). All six of them have been sentenced to life imprisonment,” said Ritabrata Chakraborty, the government lawyer.

The court, he said, also imposed fines on the convicts.

Haldar’s parents said they got justice. “We wanted capital punishment. The court ordered life imprisonment. We are happy with it,” said Ramprasad's father Amal.

Pocso sentence

The special Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court of Jalpaiguri sentenced a person to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a two-and-a-half-year-old girl in 2015.

Sources said that when the child fell ill, her parents took her to a doctor who examined her and said she had been sexually tortured. The child mentioned the person who had tortured her. The family filed a complaint with the police. The police arrested him.

Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri correspondent