BANGLADESH

OC Pradip, Inspector Liakat to walk gallows in Sinha murder trial

A court here today sentenced former Teknaf Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Pradip Kumar Das and Baharchora Police Camp inspector Liakat Ali to death in the sensational Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashid Khan murder trial.

Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail pronounced the judgment in presence of all 15 accused at the crowded courtroom.

The court also sentenced sub-inspector Nanda Dulal Rakshit, constable Rubel Sharma, ASI Sagar Deb, Nurul Amin, Nezam Uddin and Mohammad Ayaz Uddin to life imprisonment.

The seven other accused including Armed Police Battalion (APBn) sub-inspector Mohammad Shahjahan, constables Mohammad Rajib and Mohammad Abdullah were acquitted from the case as the charges framed against them were not proved.

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.”

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