All eyes on Monday's Sinha murder verdict

The much-talked-about verdict on the gruesome murder of retired major Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan is scheduled to be pronounced by Cox's Bazar court on Monday.

The district and sessions judge, Mohammad Ismail, will deviler the sentencing in a what many termed to be "sensatinal extrajudicial killing" in the country, reports BSS.  

Sinha was shot dead by police at the Shamlapur check post in Teknaf on the night of July 31, 2020.

Later, Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous filed a case against nine policemen including former OC of Teknaf police station Pradip Kumar Das and ex Sub-Inspector (SI) Liaqat Ali of Teknaf police Station with Cox's Bazar court on August 5, six days after the killing.

The court took cognizance of the case and assigned Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to investigate.

After the investigation, RAB-15 Cox's Bazar Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Khairul Islam indicted 15 people and issued charge sheet on December 13, 2020.

Then on June 27, 2021, the court ordered to start trial against 15 accused.

From  August 23, 2021 to  December 1, 2021, about 65 out of 83 witnesses testified in 8 phases while the accused testified in court on December 6 and 7.

Finally, the judicial proceedings came to an end when the lawyers of both the parties presented arguments in the case from January 9 to 12.

The court set January 31 as the date for announcing the verdict in the case.

Of the 15 accused in the case, 12 are members of law enforcement agencies.

Among them, 9 are from police and 3 from Armed Police Battalion (APBn).

The accused in the case are: Liaquat Ali, former OC of Teknaf police station Pradeep Kumar Das, SI Nanda Dulal Rakshito, constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Abdullah Al-Mamun and Mohammad Mostafa, Mohammad Shahjah , Mohammad Rajib ,Mohammad Abdullah, Nurul Amin, Nezam Uddin ,Mohammad Ayaz, former Teknaf Police Constable Rubel Sharma and former ASI Sagar Deb.

Apart from OC Pradeep and Constable Rubel Sharma, 13 accused gave confessional statements in the court.

On June 27 last year, Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge court Md Ismail framed charges in the case and ordered to begin the trial.