Rajshahi June 12,(V7N)- Two IMO hackers have been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Cyber Tribunal Court in Rajshahi, while seven others were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Judge Ziaur Rahman delivered the verdict on Tuesday, June 11, with the defendants present in the dock. Following the announcement, the convicted individuals were taken into custody.

The convicted individuals, Hridoy Ali (21) from Chak Narayanpur village in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi, and Ariful Islam alias Arif (25) from Biropara village in Lalpur upazila of Natore district, received their sentences after being found guilty.

Public Prosecutor Advocate Ismat Ara Begum confirmed the verdict on Tuesday afternoon. According to Begum, Abdul Malek, a resident of Sabujbagh in Dhaka, filed the case on March 2, 2023, at Lalpur Police Station in Natore. The complaint detailed that Malek’s brother-in-law, Zakir Hossain, who works in Saudi Arabia, communicated with his wife Fatema Khatun via the social media app IMO.

On February 13, 2023, hackers accessed Zakir Hossain’s IMO account, deceived Fatema by claiming he was in distress, and subsequently extorted Tk 55,000 through bKash. Abdul Malek's investigation revealed that the bKash number used for the fraud was registered in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi.

Upon reporting the incident to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the authorities identified and arrested five individuals involved in the scam. Following the arrests, Malek proceeded to file the case. After thorough testimonies, the court convicted two of the accused.

Advocate Ismat Ara Begum explained that the defendants were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment under one section of the Digital Security Act and fined Tk 1 lakh each, with an additional three months of simple imprisonment if the fines were not paid. The same punishment was imposed under another section, resulting in a total of 10 years of imprisonment and Tk 2 lakh in fines each. The court specified that the sentences would run consecutively.

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