Sinha murder trial begins July 26

The court has framed charges against 15 accused, including former Teknaf Police Station OC Pradeep Kumar Das, in the retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan murder case.

Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail received the allegations and ordered to file the chargesheet against the accused.

At the same time, former OC Pradeep, SI Nandadulal Rakshit and constable Sagar Deb were denied bail, said District and Sessions Judge Court Public Prosecutor (PP) Advocate Faridul Alam.

Earlier on Sunday, all the accused, including OC Pradeep, were produced before the court for the framing of charges.

The accused in Sinha’s murder were brought to the Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge’s Court in a prison van of the Cox’s Bazar District Jail at 10:30 am. All 15 accused were taken to the court under tight security.

PP Advocate Faridul Alam said, “After a long hearing, the court framed charges against the accused under Section 302/201/109/114/120 (b) / 34 of the Penal Code at around 12:30 pm. The date for depositions have been set for 26-28 July.”

Alam also said that the lawyers of Pradeep, Deb and Rakshit of Baharchhara Police Investigation Centre, appealed for acquittal and bail under Section 265 (c) of the Criminal Procedure Code. However, the court rejected the appeal after hearing it.

Pradeep and Rakshit had applied for bail on 10 June. However, the hearing was not held as the documents were not presented in the court that day. Later, an appeal was filed in the court again on 13 June. The court took cognizance of the application and fixed 27 June for hearing.

On the other hand, Deb, another accused in the case, surrendered before Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail on 24 June and sought bail. The court fixed on Sunday for hearing on his bail application.

In the Sinha murder case, the accused were represented by a lawyer panel of 10-12 people including Advocate Dilip Das, Mohi Uddin Khan, Mubarak Hossain, Rana Dasgupta and Chandan Das.

Public Prosecutor (PP) Faridul Alam was there on behalf of the state and advocate Mohammad Mostafa and former PP advocate Mohammad Jahangir represented the plaintiff in the hearing.

Sinha was shot by police at Shamlapur police check post on the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive on 31 July, 2020.

After being informed, the then Teknaf OC Pradeep turned up to the scene and delayed taking the bullet-hit Sinha to hospital.

Later on 5 August, Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous filed a murder case against nine people, including Pradeep.

Ex-OC Pradeep, 14 others indicted