Sinha murder: Trial begins against OC Pradeep, other accused
A Cox's Bazar court has framed charges against 15 accused, including former Teknaf Police Station office-in-charge (OC) Pradeep Kumar Das, in the retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan murder case.
Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail on Sunday ordered police to file the chargesheet against the accused.
At the same time, Pradeep, Sub-Inspector Nandadulal Rakshit, and Constable Sagar Deb were denied bail, said the court's Public Prosecutor (PP) Advocate Faridul Alam.
Earlier in the day, all the accused, including Pradeep, were produced before the court.
The accused in Sinha murder were brought to the court in a prison van of the Cox's Bazar district jail at 10:30am. All 15 were taken to the court under tight security.
Advocate Faridul said, "After a long hearing, the court framed charges against the accused at around 12:30pm. Depositions will be recorded from July 26 to 28."
He said the lawyers of Pradeep, Sagar, and Nandadulal of Baharchhara Police Investigation Centre appealed for acquittal and bail, but the court rejected the appeal after hearing it.
Pradeep and Nandadulal applied for bail on 10 June. However, the hearing was not held as the required documents were not presented before the court that day. Later, an appeal was filed on 13 June. The court took cognisance of the application and set 27 June for a hearing.
On the other hand, Sagar, another accused in the case, surrendered before Judge Mohammad Ismail on 24 June and sought bail.
In the Sinha murder case, the accused were represented by a 10-12-member panel of lawyers, including Advocate Dilip Das, Mohi Uddin Khan, Mubarak Hossain, Rana Dasgupta, and Chandan Das.
Public Prosecutor Faridul was there on behalf of the state and Advocate Mohammad Mostafa and former public prosecutor 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 came to the scene and delayed taking bullet-hit Sinha to hospital.
Later on 5 August, Sinha's sister Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous filed a murder case against nine people, including Pradeep.