RAB may submit Sinha murder case charge sheet within a month
Confessional statement of 12 accused is a good sign for investigation, says RAB
The Rapid Action Battalion, the investigating agency of the retired army Major Sinha Md Rashed Khan murder case, plans to submit the charge sheet within a month. A source related to the investigation of the case confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.
According to the source's information, there was no actual mandatory time frame to submit the charge sheet, while the court was yet to fix the date.
However, being a fast-track case and also much talked about across the country, the investigating officer (IO) may plan to submit the charge sheet by late September or early October as they are very close to the end of the investigation, the source from the investigating agency told The Business Standard on Wednesday night.
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When asked, Lt Col Ashique Billah, director of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) legal and media wing, said that they have already succeeded in producing 12 accused in the case to give confessional statements at court.
"It is a good sign that we have already managed to make all the 12 accused give confessional statements, only without the former officer-in-charge (OC) Pradeep Kumar Das. It also portrays the improvement of the case investigation. We will submit the charge sheet within the appropriate time," he added.
Replying to a question on whether the investigating agency will take the home ministry probe report as evidence or not, Ashique Billah told The Business Standard, "For analysing the incident and betterment of the investigation, the IO will take help from the probe report in particular and specific issues."
"That is all up to the IO, but surely if he needs any information or evidence from the home ministry probe report, he will take the report after court permission," he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, four other policemen who were involved in the sensational Sinha murder case gave confessional statements.
After their second round of remand, a RAB team produced them before Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farah's court on Wednesday at around 11 am to provide confessional statements under Section 164.
Earlier in the morning, they were taken to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital for a health check-up.
The four accused are Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Liton Mia, Constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain and Abdullah Al Mamun, associates of Pradeep Kumar Das, Liakat and Nanda Dulal Rakshit in the Sinha murder case.
RAB-15 Cox's Bazar Deputy Commander Major Mehedi Hasan confirmed the matter, adding that the court had granted four-day remand in the second phase on August 24 to further question the four policemen accused in the case.
Following the court order, RAB started questioning the four members of the police for the second time on September 6.
They were brought to court on Wednesday after the four-day remand as they agreed to make confessional statements.
Earlier, suspended OC Pradeep, Inspector Liakat and Sub-Inspector Nanda Dulal were remanded for questioning.
Among them, Pradeep was remanded for 15 days in four phases, Liakat and Nanda Dulal Rakshit for 14 days in three phases.
Although Liakat and Nanda Dulal made confessional statements under Section 164, Pradeep did not. They are all in jail now.
So far, eight people, including three members of APBn, have given confessional statements. Once the statements of the four are completed, the court will get the confessional statements of 12 people in the case.
Retired major Sinha was killed in police firing at Shamlapur police check-post at Teknaf's Baharchhara union, on Cox's Bazar Marine Drive, on the night of July 31.
Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, Sinha's elder sister, filed a case at the Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court on August 5 over the murder.
