Sinha Murder Case: Court accepts charge sheet
A Cox's Bazar court yesterday accepted the charge sheet in Maj (retd) Sinha Rashed Khan murder case.
Judge Tamanna Farah of Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-4 accepted the charge sheet after hearing the prosecution and defence lawyers.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for suspended assistant sub-inspector Sagar Dev, the only absconding accused in the case, said Public Prosecutor Faridul Alam of Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge Court.
Rab Senior ASP Mohammad Khairul Islam, also the investigation officer of the murder case, had submitted the charge sheet to the court on December 13, accusing 15 people.
Among the accused are suspended Teknaf OC Pradeep Kumar Das and suspended inspector Liaqat Ali of Baharchhara Investigation Centre.
Yesterday, the senior judicial magistrate's court also accepted the final reports in two cases, filed by Teknaf police after the murder of Sinha, and cleared lone accused Shahadul Islam Sefat of arms and drug charges. The two cases were also probed by the Rapid Action Battalion.
Sinha was killed at an APBn checkpoint on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive on the night of July 31. Local police said suspended inspector Liaqat's team had taken over the check post from three APBn officers before the killing incident.
Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, elder sister of Sinha, had filed the murder case with a local court on August 5. Later, Rab was tasked with its investigation.
The retired army officer was shooting videos for his YouTube channel in Teknaf's Marishbunia before he was shot. He had been residing in the area for a month for filming.
RAB PROBE
Speaking at a press conference at the Rab media centre in the capital on December 13, Rab Director (legal and media wing) Lt Col Ashiq Billah said, "The conspiracy [of murder] was hatched by OC Pradeep, Inspector Liaqat, and local police sources Nurul Amin, Mohammad Aiyas and Nizamuddin."
Liaqat, SI Nandadulal and three APBn members then executed the plan, he said. The APBn members are: SI Mohammad Shahjahan and constables Md Rajib and Mohammad Abdullah.
"Besides, other policemen from a nearby camp, namely SI Liton Miah and constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain Azad, Abdullah Al Mamun ensured that a wounded Sinha bled to death ... ," said Ashiq.
Constables Sagar Deb and Rubel Sharma staged an act of recovering narcotics from Sinha's vehicle, the Rab director told reporters.
The charge sheet named 83 people as witnesses.
A total of 14 people were arrested between August and September in the case. All the arrestees but OC Pradeep and constable Rubel made confessional statements before court.