A Sylhet court has accepted the chargesheet against six people including the prime suspect suspended sub-inspector (SI) Akbar Hossain in a case filed over the death of Rayhan Ahmed at Bandarbazar police outpost in Sylhet.
Sylhet Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court Judge Abul Momen passed the order on Thursday, confirmed plaintiff lawyer Abul Fazal Chowdhury.
Rayhan's mother Salma Begum demanded exemplary punishment of those responsible for his son's murder to the court.
Rayhan's wife Tahmina Akhter Tanni, the plaintiff of the case, said: "The police failed to ensure my husband's safety."
The accused are -- Akbar Hossain, the then in-charge of the Bandarbazar police outpost, Hasan Ali, sub-inspector, Ashek Elahi, assistant sub-inspector, Harunur Rashid and Titu Chandra, constables of the same outpost and Abdullah Al Noman, a journalist from Sylhet’s Companiganj.
The court also issued an arrest warrant against Abdullah Al Noman who has been absconding since the incident.
Noman is from Companiganj upazila of Sylhet. He was the correspondent for the online news portal Sylhetview24.com and the Companiganj correspondent of the newspaper “Shubhodin Protidin.”
Both of these organizations relieved him of his responsibilities after his name came up in connection with Rayhan’s murder.
Earlier on May 5, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) filed the charge sheet against the six accused to the same court.
On October 11, 34-year-old Rayhan, a resident of Akhalia in Sylhet city, was beaten to death in police custody at Bandar Bazar police outpost.
The next day, Rayhan's wife filed a case under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act 2013 with Sylhet Kotwali police station.
The case was then transferred to the PBI following the family's demand.
A forensic medical board of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital, in its second autopsy report, said Rayhan had died due to injuries he sustained from a blunt weapon.
In the first autopsy report, the doctors found 111 injury marks on Rayhan's body. Of them, 14 were serious injuries.
A probe body of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) also found the truth of the torture.
SI Akbar, the then in-charge of Bandar Bazar police outpost, and three police personnel were suspended on October 12 while three others were also withdrawn from the outpost.
Akbar fled from police custody on October 13 and was arrested at the Dona border in the northeastern district's Kanaighat upazila on November 9.
On October 22 of the same year, former SMP Commissioner Golam Kibria was transferred over widespread criticisms of the role of police after Rayhan's death.
mj/
