Teknaf former OC Pradip, six others land in jail

A Cox's Bazar court turned down bail appeals from Pradip Kumar Das, former OC of Teknaf Police Station, and six other policemen, sending them to jail over the murder of former army officer Major Sinha Md Rashed Khan, report agencies.

Judge Md Helal Uddin of Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Court passed the order on Thursday. Three of the accused were remanded in RAB custody.

The accused also include Inspector Liakat Ali, former in-charge of Baharchhara investigation centre who fired the fatal shots at a checkpoint on the night of Jul 31.

Pradeep surrendered on Thursday to police hours after a Chattogram court issued warrants for the arrest of nine policemen including the OC in a case over the killing of Sinha Md Rashed Khan in Teknaf.

Amena Begum, additional commissioner (admin and finance) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police confirmed the matter.

He was undergoing treatment at Divisional Police Hospital in Chattogram city's Dampara area.

Earlier, Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farah  issued the arrest warrants against them after taking the case into cognizance on Wednesday.

The other accused in the case are sub-inspector Nandolal Rakkhit, Sub-inspector Tutul, assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia, constable Shafanur Karim, Constable Kamal Hossain, Constable Abdullah Al Mamun, and Constable Mohamamd Mostafa.

A joint patrol of Bangladesh Army and Police would be deployed in Cox's Bazar aiming to keep the law and order situation normal there in the wake of the death of Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan.

To keep the law and order situation normal in Cox's Bazar and bring the confidence of locals back after the murder of Major (retd) Sinha, Bangladesh Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed and Inspector General of Police Benazir agreed to conduct a joint patrol there and gave necessary instructions to their respective forces to this end, an ISPR press release said on Thursday.

Noting that the killing of Sinha was 'an isolated incident', the Army Chief and the IGP hoped that fair investigation into the killing and ensuring exemplary punishment to those involved in the killing will make the existing mutual trust between the two forces deepened and strengthened more.

Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan was shot dead by police personnel at a police check-post on marine drive in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar, on the night of July 31.

The Bangladesh Army is deeply shocked over this unfortunate incident, the release said.

As per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a high-level joint probe committee was constituted, which started its probe on August 4 last. Yesterday (Wednesday), the Chief of Army Staff and the IGP visited the spot and exchanged views with the local officers of their respective forces and gave necessary instructions to this end.

The Army Chief and the IGP said the responsible forces will not take the responsibility of the individuals involved in the incident and it would not affect the long-standing good relations of the two forces.

They vowed that those involved in the killing of Sinha would be brought to justice through proper investigation.

A case was filed earlier against the nine policemen over the killing of Major (retd) Sinha.

Sharmin Shahrier Ferdous, elder sister of Sinha, filed the case with Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court on Wednesday, said senior lawyer Mohammad Mostafa.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farah asked the authorities concerned to submit the probe report within seven working days.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) will investigate the case.

Sinha was killed in police firing at Baharchhara police check-post on July 31.

Two people were arrested and two separate cases were filed in this regard, Superintendent of Police ABM Masud Hossain said Saturday.

The Home Ministry formed a four-member committee, headed by Mizanur Rahman, additional divisional commissioner (development), on August 2.

The authorities on Sunday suspended 21 police officers, including the in-charge of Baharchhara police outpost, in connection with the killing.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday assured the mother of Major Sinha of proper investigation into the murder of her son and the trial of his killers.

PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said the Prime Minister called up Sinha's mother and consoled her.