UNB, Cox’s Bazar :
Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail on Monday observed that the killing of Maj (retd) Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan was premeditated.
His observation came before delivering judgment in the sensational murder of the retired major at a police check post in Teknaf on July 31, 2020.
“I have tried to find out the details of the Major Sinha murder”, he said. “Three members of APBN were in charge. The trio first released Sinha’s car after stopping it, but the police stopped it again and shot him within 10 to 20 minutes”.
This proves that Sinha’s assassination was a premeditated murder, said the judge.
According to the observation Liaquat Ali fired four times at Sinha. Liaquat admitted to shooting Sinha thinking he had a pistol in his hand. Eventually OC Pradeep reached the spot and kicked the left side of Sinha’s chest.
Similarly, in the statement of SI Nanda Dulal Rakshita proved that he played an active role in the murder.
Earlier in the day, the judgment of Sinha murder case was read out at a Cox’s Bazar court in presence of 15 accused in the case.
The accused were brought to the court from Cox’s Bazar district jail at 2 pm on Monday.
Judge Mohammad Ismail started to read out the judgment when the accused were produced before the court, said Public Prosecutor Faridul Alam.
Of the 15 accused, 12 gave confessional statements before court during the trial except ex-OC Pradeep Kumar Das, Constable Sagar Dev and Rubel Sharma.
Other accused in the case are- Inspector of Baharchara Police outpost Liakat Ali, sub-inspectors Nandolal Rakkhit and Tutul, assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia; constables Shafanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Abdullah AL Mamun, , Md Rajib and Md Abdullah, ASI of APBN Md Shahjahan and Nurul Amin, Md Nizamuddin and Ayaz Uddin.
Meanwhile, security was beefed up in Cox’s Bazar town ahead of the delivery of judgment.
Additional police personnel were deployed in and around the court premises while a number of check-post were set up at different points.
The movement of pedestrians around the court was also restricted.
On January 12, the Cox’s Bazar court fixed Monday for delivery of the judgment.
On July 31, 2020, Sinha was shot dead at the Shamlapur police check-post in Baharchhara Union of Cox’s Bazar while returning to town after filming for a documentary.
On August 5, 2020, Sinha’s sister, Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, filed a case with Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court accusing nine members of law enforcement agencies of being involved in the killing, including former officer-in-charge of Teknaf model police station Pradeep Kumar Das and Baharchhara police outpost inspector Liakat Ali.
On December 13, same year, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) submitted a charge sheet against 15 people, including ex-OC Pradeep, police source Ayaz and three APBn members, in connection with the case.
On June 27, 2021, a Cox’s Bazar court framed charges against them.
