Fifth witness testifies before court

The third day of second phase of testimonial statements in the murder case of Maj (retd) Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan has started at Cox’s Bazar court with the testimony and statement of the fifth witness.

The testimony of Hafeez Mohammad Amin began in the court of Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail around 10:15 am on Tuesday, confirmed Public Prosecutor (PP) Faridul Alam.

Witnesses Saiful Abshar and Mohammad Shawkat Ali have also been produced before the court.

The public prosecutor said the court had issued notices to 15 of the 73 witnesses to testify in the first phase of the trial from August 23 to 25.

The plaintiff and one witness of the case testified in those three days. The testimony of two other witnesses of the case were taken on the first and second day of the second phase from Sunday, he added.

The 11 other witnesses who received the court notice are scheduled to testify by Wednesday in the second phase of the trial, which began with the testimony of Hafez Mohammad Amin, said PP Alam.

On July 31 last year, Sinha was shot dead at the Shamlapur police check-post in Baharchhara Union of Cox's Bazar while returning to town after filming for a documentary.

On August 5, Sinha's sister, Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, filed a case with Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court accusing nine members of law enforcement agencies of being involved in the killing, including Pradeep Kumar Das and Baharchhara police outpost inspector Liakat Ali.

On December 13, 2020, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) submitted a charge sheet against 15 people, including police source Ayaz and three APBn members, in connection with the case filed over Sinha's murder at a checkpost manned by APBn, where officers of the Teknaf police station intercepted Sinha's car.

All of the 15 accused in the chargesheet are currently in jail. Of them 12 have given confessional statements before court except OC Pradeep Kumar Das, constable Sagar Dev and Rubel Sharma.

Other accused of the case are- Inspector of Baharchara Police outpost Liakat Ali, sub-inspectors Nandolal Rakkhit and Tutul, assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia; constables Shafanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Abdullah AL Mamun, Md Rajib and Md Abdullah, ASI of APBN Md Shahjahan and Nurul Amin, Md Nizamuddin and Ayaz Uddin.