Online Desk: A Dhaka tribunal today sentenced Rabiul Islam alias Arav Khan to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in an arms case filed against him in January 2015. Judge Murshid Ahmed of Dhaka’s Special Tribunal-14 handed down the sentence in his absence. The judge also fined him Tk 10,000, in default, of which he will have to serve three more months in jail.

In the judgment, the judge said the prosecution was able to prove the charges brought against Arav Khan, who now lives in Dubai, “beyond doubt”. The punishment of the fugitive will be effective from the day of his arrest or surrender, the judgment said. Earlier, the tribunal recorded statements of 10 witnesses, including the complainant of the case.

According to the case statement, Arav Khan went to the home of his father-in-law Sekendar Ali in Moghbazar on January 28, 2015 to collect money at gunpoint. He was arrested from outside of the house by Ramna police, who also recovered a revolver from him.

Later, a case was filed against him under the Arms Act with Ramna Police Station. After an investigation, DB pressed charges against him on March 1 the same year. The tribunal framed charges against him on May 10. He got bail from a higher court on March 14 of 2018 and went into hiding. The tribunal declared him a “fugitive” in the case and issued an arrest warrant against him on October 24 the same year.

Arav Khan, who runs a jewellery store in Dubai, has an Interpol red alert against him. Arav Khan is also a fugitive accused in the case filed over killing (SB) Inspector Mamun Emran Khan on July 7 of 2018. The case is now pending with Dhaka’s First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court where five prosecution witnesses, including the complainant, testified earlier.