Sinha murder: RAB yet to take custody of 10 accused for interrogation
Seven policemen and three civilians were accused in the murder case, but none of them were taken on remand as yet
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which is investigating the Major (retd) Sinha murder case, is yet to take the ten arrested accused into custody following the remand order.
Seven policemen and three civilians have been accused in the case.
A week has passed since remand was granted to RAB, but the three prime accused – Teknaf police station's suspended officer-in-charge Pradeep Kumar Das, Baharchhara police outpost's inspector Liakat Ali and sub-inspector Nanda Dulal Rakkhit still remain at the Cox's Bazar District prison.
"The trio was placed on a seven-day remand each on August 6, but they are still in jail. The investigating authority visited them there multiple times, but they are yet to take them into custody," said Md Mokammel Hossain, superintendent of Cox's Bazar jail.
Meanwhile, the other remanded accused – suspended assistant sub-inspector Liton Miah, constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain and Abdullah Al Mamun, and three witnesses Nurul Amin, Nizam Uddin and Md Ayas were placed on a seven-day remand each on Wednesday.
However, RAB is yet to take these seven accused into custody for interrogation over the Sinha murder case.
The investigating agency RAB recently said the three arrested witnesses were involved with the staged drama surrounding Sinha's murder.
Following the remand order on Wednesday, A RAB team arrived at the Cox's Bazar District Jail to pick up the suspects on Thursday around 11am, but they later left the jail premises without taking the accused into remand.
"For some reason, we had to return without taking the accused into our custody. We are still analysing papers and soon we will take them into remand for interrogation," said an official of RAB-15, who is involved with the Sinha murder case investigation.
The jail superintendent also stated that a RAB team visited on Thursday to take seven of the accused into remand. But they returned from the jail gate empty handed after staying there for around 30 minutes.
In should be noted that on Tuesday, Lt Col Ashique Billah, director of RAB's Legal and Media Wing, said the remand period of the accused will counted once they are in their custody.
Meanwhile, a Maheshkhali court dismissed a case filed against 29 people, including former officer-in-charge of Maheshkhali Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das, in connection with the killing of salt farmer Abdus Sattar in an alleged gunfight at Maheshkhali Hwanak Union in Cox's Bazar.
At the same time, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police was given the responsibility to investigate a murder case filed by the police over the gunfight incident three years ago.
Judge Abbas Uddin of Maheshkhali Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court passed the order on Thursday after hearing a case filed by Abdus Sattar's wife Hamida Begum. Hamida Begum, wife of salt farmer Abdus Sattar, filed the case on Wednesday afternoon.
Aside from Pradeep Kumar Das, five other members of the police were also accused in that case. They are former Sub-Inspector of Maheshkhali Police Station Harunur Rashid and Imam Hossain, Assistant Sub-Inspector Monirul Islam, Shahedul Islam and Azim Uddin.