Former OC Pradeep, SI Liakat to die for killing major Sinha

Suspended Officer in Charge (OC) of Teknaf police station Pradeep Kumar Das and former inspector of Baharchhara Police Investigation Centre Liakat Ali have been awarded death sentence for killing Major (retd) Sinha Rashed Khan.

Six other accused have been sentenced to life in prison.

Seven accused including three members of APBN have been acquitted. 

Nanda Dulal Rakshit, Rubel Sharma, Ayaz, Nurul Amin, Nizamuddin  and Sagar Dev have been awarded life in prison.

The acquitted are-Shahjahan Mia, Rajib, Abdullah, Liton Mia, Safanur Karim, Abdullah Al Mamun and Kamal

The murder was premeditated and planned weeks before, the court said in its observation.  

District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail pronounced the verdict, said Public Prosecutor Faridul Alam.

Family of the ex-SSF officer Sinha Rashed expressed satisfaction over the verdict.

On 31 July 2020, Major (retd) Sinha Rashed Khan was gunned down at a police check post on the Cox's Bazar marine drive while he was driving towards the capital. On that night, police arrested Sinha's co-traveller Shahadul Islam Sefat and another teammate Shipra Debnath from a local resort, and filed a drug case against them.

The trio had been in the tourist city for months to film a travel documentary. Investigation later showed Sinha was murdered as he found out local police's involvement in narcotics smuggling and other crimes in Cox's Bazar.

The killing prompted a countrywide protest and outcry as the then army and police chiefs rushed to Cox's Bazar to hold an unprecedented joint press conference.

Following the incident, extrajudicial killings received unprecedented public attention and the number of extrajudicial killing incidents dropped, according to the British foreign ministry's human rights report on Bangladesh in July 2020.

On the eve of the verdict, Sinha's co-traveller Sefat said, "May no one die in police crossfire anymore."

Among the 15 accused, 12 have given confessional statements before court except ex-OC Pradeep Kumar Das, Constable Sagar Dev and Rubel Sharma.