Two more murder cases filed against ex-OC Pradeep
Murder cases against Pradeep now stands at 10
Two more murder cases were filed against former officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das and a few others including policemen with a court in Cox's Bazar today.
Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court-3 of Judge Mohammad Helal Uddin accepted the cases and ordered the OC of Teknaf Police Station to submit reports to the court.
Laila Begum, wife of late Nur Mohammad who was a trader and supplier of seeds, fertilisers, oils and pesticides in Teknaf upazila town, filed the case against Pradeep and 14 others in connection with the death of her husband.
In the case statement, the complaint stated that the then OC Pradeep Kumar Das and a group of policemen forcibly took her husband to Teknaf Police Station from the Upazila Agriculture Office on March 19 last year.
Pradeep demanded Tk 40 lakh in cash to free her husband. She managed Tk 5 lakh cash and gave it to Pradeep. After that, he kept demanding another Tk 35 lakh.
According to the case statement, on the night of March 21, the plaintiff and her husband Nur Mohammad were taken to Rajarchhara area of Marine Drive in two separate vehicles. Around 3:30 pm, her husband was blindfolded and taken out of the car to a nearby forest. After a while, the plaintiff heard the sound of gunfire. At one stage, the bullet-hit body of her husband was brought in front of her.
The body was buried on the night of March 22 following police instructions. Later, OC Pradeep and other accused forcibly evicted the woman from the house and occupied it, the case statement read.
The second case was filed by Halima Khatun, 55, wife of Saleh Ahmed of Delpara in Sadar union of Teknaf upazila, in the same court against 16 people, including Pradeep and 14 other policemen.
The plaintiff said in her statement that her son Abdul Aziz, a day labourer, and three others were picked up by police from Delpara area on October 16 last year and OC Pradeep told Aziz's father that he would have to pay Tk 5 lakh in cash to free his son.
Later, Abdul Aziz's parents gave Tk 50,000 in cash to OC Pradeep.
According to the statement, unable to pay the remaining Tk 4.5 lakh, Abdul Aziz was shot dead around 11:45 pm on October 19 in Maheshkhalia para Ghat area of Marine Drive Road.
With the two cases, a total of 10 murder cases have been filed in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar courts against OC Pradeep and other policemen, who were working at Teknaf Police Station.