The Cox’s Bazar Sessions Judge Court on Monday sentenced former Teknaf police station officer-in-charge Pradeep Kumar Das and inspector Liakat Ali to death for murdering retired major Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan on July 31, 2020.
Judge Mohammad Ismail of the court pronounced the verdict in the afternoon also awarding six other people including three cops and three villagers to suffer life term rigorous imprisonment for committing the offence.
The life term imprisonment recipients are the then Teknaf police sub-inspector Nanda Dulal Rakshit, constables Rubel Sharma and Sagar Dev, and villagers Nurul Amin, Nizam Uddin, and Ayas Uddin.
The court also acquitted seven other accused in the case – the then Baharchhara police investigation centre assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia and constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain and Abdullah Al Mamun and the then Cox’s Bazar-based Armed Police Battalion sub-inspector Shahjahan and constables Rajib and Abdullah, said Mohammad Jahangir, a lawyer representing the plaintiff of the case.
All the convicts and the acquitted ones heard the verdict from the dock.
Tight security measures were taken in and around the court premises on the occasion of pronouncement of the verdict.
The court observed that the murder was a pre-planned one.
While the court activities were in progress, a number of people, especially relatives of the people died in ‘gunfight’ incidents in Teknaf, outside the court premises formed a human chain demanding capital punishment for OC Pradeep and his cohorts for killing nearly dozens of people in Teknaf in the name of ‘gunfight’.
On January 12, the same court, following the case summing up arguments by both the prosecution and the defence lawyers, set Monday for delivering the verdict in the case against 15 accused.
Retired major Sinha was shot dead at the Shamlapur police checkpoint in Baharchhara Union of Cox’s Bazar while returning to Cox’s Bazar town on July 31, 2020, after filming for a documentary.
His sister Sharmen Shahria Ferdush filed the case with a Cox’s Bazar judicial magistrate court against nine members of law enforcement agencies, including Pradeep and Baharchhara police outpost inspector Liyakat Ali, on August 5, 2020.
On December 13, 2020, the Rapid Action Battalion submitted the charge sheet against 15 people — Pradeep, Liyakat, then Teknaf police sub-inspector Nanda Dulal Rakshit, constables Rubel Sharma and Sagar Dev, then Baharchhara police investigation centre assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia and constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain and Abdullah Al Mamun, then Cox’s Bazar-based Armed Police Battalion sub-inspector Shahjahan and constables Rajib and Abdullah and villagers Nurul Amin, Nizam Uddin, and Ayas Uddin. All the accused are now in prisons.
On June 27, 2021, Cox’s Bazar court framed charges against the 15. All the police members named in the charge sheet were suspended following their arrest.
The court examined 65 of the 83 prosecution witnesses.
The charge sheet stated that Pradeep had plotted the murder nearly two weeks ago.
The battalion said that the three villagers were police informers and took part in the Sinha murder plot.
