A Rangpur court is set to deliver the verdict today in the Kunio Hoshi murder case, over one year after the Japanese national was shot dead in the district's Kaunia upazila.

Noresh Chandra Sarker, the judge of the Special Court in Rangpur, will announce the verdict.

The court on November 15 last year framed charges against eight “members of outlawed Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)” and recorded testimonies of 56 witnesses till February 14, said Rathish Chandra Bhowmik, special public prosecutor in Rangpur court.

Of the eight accused, five are now behind bars. They are Masud Rana alias Mamun alias Montri, 21, Abu Sayeed, 28, and Ihsak Ali, 25, of Pirgachha upazila in Rangpur, Liton Mia Rafiq, 23, of Gabtoli in Bogra and Shakhwat Hossain, 32, of Saghata upazila in Gaibandha.

During interrogation, the arrestees told police that the foreigner was killed to create instability in the country and tarnish Bangladesh's image abroad, added Rathish.

Unidentified assailants shot dead Kunio Hoshi at Alutari village on October 3, 2015 when he was on his way to his grass farm by a rickshaw. He had been staying at a rented house in Munshipara of Rangpur city.

Two other accused -- Nazrul Islam alias Bike Nazrul of Panchagarh and Saddam Hossain of Kurigram -- were killed in “gunfights” with law enforcers on August 1 last year and January 5 this year in Rajshahi and Dhaka.

However, another accused Ansar Ullah Ansari has been absconding.