Staff Reporter :
Two death row convicts in the Major (retired) Sinha Md Rashed Khan murder case, Pradeep Kumar Das, former officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, and Liaqat Ali, former in-charge of Baharchhara Investigation Centre in Teknaf, on Tuesday filed two separate appeals with the High Court seeking cancellation of their punishments.
Rana Dasgupta, a counsel of Pradeep Kumar, said the two petitions have filed with the High Court on Sunday and Monday.
The lawyer said, “The verdict that was delivered had not been illustrated properly by the documents, arguments and statements submitted by the accused and the prosecution. That is why we have sought cancellation of the verdict against Pradeep.”
Lawyer SM Shahjahan submitted the appeal petition on behalf of Liaqat Ali.
A Cox’s Bazar court on January 31 this year in a verdict handed down death sentence to suspended police officials Pradeep Kumar Das and Liaqat Ali for killing Major (retired) Sinha Md Rashed Khan.
Pradeep, the then officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, had plotted to kill the retired army official, and Liaqat, who was the in-charge of Baharchhara Investigation Centre, executed the plan by shooting Sinha at an APBn checkpost on July 31, 2020, the court said.
Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammed Ismail also sentenced six others, including three policemen, to life in the murder case.
All the convicts were fined Tk 50,000 each.
Seven other police personnel, however, were acquitted as the charges against them could not be prove in court.
Police Sub-Inspector Nandadulal Rakshit, constables Sagar Deb and Rubel Sharma, and informants Nurul Amin, Nezam Uddin and Ayaz Uddin were sentenced to life-term imprisonment.
The court acquitted SI Md Shahjahan, Assistant Sub-Inspector Liton Mia, constable Kamal Hossain Azan, and Abdullah Al Mamun, Safanur Karim, Md Rajib and Md Abdullah Al Mahmud.
On July 31 in 2020, Major (retired) Sinha was shot dead in police firing at a check-post in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf upazila.
Later, on August 5 same year, Sinha’s elder sister filed a murder case accusing former officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das, sub-inspector Nandadulal and seven others with Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court in connection with the murder.
Meanwhile, the case documents of the murder reached the High Court on February 8 as death reference in order to examine the lower court verdict that sentenced two police members to death and six others to life imprisonment.
Officials of the Cox’s Bazar court concerned brought the documents of the case, including the judgment, to the HC, said Supreme Court spokesperson Md Saifur Rahman.
He said, the HC authorities will now prepare the documents as paper book for hearing on the death reference.
If a lower court sentences any individual to death in a case, the judgment is examined by the HC through a process of hearing arguments to confirm and justify the death sentence.
The case documents and judgment reach the HC as a death reference from the lower court after the latter delivers the verdict as per relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
