Sinha murder: Bullets fired from Liakat’s revolver

The bullets that hit Maj (retd) Sinha Rashed Khan were fired from the licensed revolver of now suspended police inspector Liaqat Ali, said a witness in the Sinha murder case.

The witness -- Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, chemical examiner of police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) -- said this while testifying before the Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge's Court yesterday.

"The licensed revolver of police inspector Liaqat Ali was seized after the incident. Later, it was examined in CID's lab. It was confirmed that the bullets which hit Maj (retd) Sinha were fired from the licensed revolver of Liaqat Ali," said a court source, quoting Mizaur as saying.

Judge Mohammad Ismail of the Cox's Bazar court recorded the witnesses' statement, said the court's Public Prosecutor Faridul Alam.

Yesterday, the court proceedings began around 10:30am and continued till 2:30pm. All 15 accused in the case were present.

The court began recording witnesses' statements in the sixth phase on Monday and it will continue till today. Twenty-four witnesses have testified in the case in the last two days.

In the previous five phases, a total of 34 witnesses have testified since August 23 when the court began the trial through recording the statement of Sinha's sister Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, also the complainant of the case.

According to the charge sheet, 83 people are witnesses in the case.

On June 27, the court framed charges against the 15 accused. Of them, 12 are police personnel, including former Teknaf Police Station OC Pradeep Kumar Das, inspector Liaqat Ali, sub-inspector Md Shahjahan, and assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia. The four were suspended later.

Sinha, 36, was killed in police firing at a checkpoint of Armed Police Battalion (APBn) on Marine Drive road in Teknaf's Shamlapur area on July 31 last year.

Sharmin filed the murder case with Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court on August 5.