‍Shawdesh desk;

A Cox’s Bazar court on Monday sentenced Teknaf police station’s former Officer-in-Charge (OC) Pradeep Kumar Das and sub-inspector Liakat Ali to death and six others to life term imprisonment in Major (retd) Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan murder case.

Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail announced the verdict in the much-talked-about case in presence of all accused in the case.

The court also acquitted seven others including three APBn members in the case.

Earlier, police have produced fifteen accused, including 12 policemen, of the case ahead of the verdict.

The judge read out important portions of 300-page verdict and observed that the murder was premeditated.

Additional police personnel have been deployed in and around the court premises to prevent any untoward incident following the verdict.

The movement of pedestrians around the court is also being restricted.

Earlier on January 12, the judge set the date for the verdict after finishing the argument hearing in the case.

A total of 65 out of 83 prosecution witnesses testified before the court during the trial proceeding in the case.

On the night of July 31, 2020, Major Sinha was shot dead by policemen at a checkpoint on the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive.

After Sinha’s death, the police said they fired in self-defence when Sinha brandished a pistol at law enforcers after obstructing a search of his vehicle at the checkpoint.

The police then arrested Sinha’s co-workers Shahedul Islam Sefat and Shipra Debnath and two cases were filed against them over Sinha’s death and alleged recovery of drugs.

Later, the home ministry formed a high-level inquiry after questions were raised about the details of the incident provided by the police while allegations of ‘extrajudicial killings’ against the police also resurfaced.

Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous subsequently filed a case with a Cox’s Bazar court against nine policemen on August 5, the same year.

After investigation, RAB ASP Md Khairul Islam, also Investigation officer of case, submitted a charge-sheet accusing 15 people including former OC Pradeep Kumar Das in the case.