Verdict matches expectations: Sinha’s family

Major (retd) Sinha Rashed Khan's elder sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous said Monday's verdict in the murder case of her brother has met a large extent to their expectations.

"From the very first day, we had been seeking the maximum punishment for the two main accused Pradeep and Liaquat. I said this yesterday [Sunday] too. In the verdict, the two main accused were given the maximum punishment which was the most expected.

"But we will be satisfied after their execution," she told reporters on Cox's Bazar court premises on Monday.

Sharmin Shahria, the plaintiff of the murder case, said seven persons who were acquitted from the charges had some sort of involvement in the murder. "They [the acquitted suspects] either overlooked their duties or entirely neglected those on that night when my brother was gunned down. Therefore, they could have been punished too."

She, however, said it was not easy to come up with such a comprehensive verdict in a very short time if there was no sincerity.

"My mother rushed to Cox's Bazar today to hear the verdict. After the judgement, she showed her grief to the public that she had been keeping within her for so long," Sharmin Shahria told the media.   

In an immediate reaction, Sinha's teammates Shahadul Islam Sefat and Shipra Debnath said the verdict does not mean too much for them.

"The judgement will not be able to return the friend we had lost," Shipra said, while Sefat said the verdict and news about it all over the television channels and social media had been reminding him of the mental trauma they had to endure.   

"I think it is a fair trial. What else we humans can do or expect," he wrote to The Business Standard.

"We are framed by police"

During the verdict, the accused were standing in a corner of the courtroom. They looked anxious.  

Police informants Nezam Uddin and Mohammad Ayaz broke down in tears after getting a life term in prison. They then started slapping Nanda Dulal Rakshit, another convict sentenced to life imprisonment.

"Nanda Dulal took me away from home. He framed me in this incident after threatening to put me in a crossfire. What will happen to my two sons and daughters now," Ayaz kept shouting.

"Being born in Teknaf is a sin. I did nothing wrong," he claimed.    

Some of the other convicts sentenced to life imprisonment also broke down in tears. They started crying loudly while being taken away by prison vans.

"We have been treated unfairly," they wept.    

The relatives also claimed their loved ones were innocent since they only carried out the order of OC Pradeep. Therefore, they do not deserve life imprisonment.

Victims of police torture in the Teknaf area and families of those were killed in alleged gunfights demanded capital punishment to former OC Pradeep Kumar Das on the district and sessions judge's court premises in Cox's Bazar on Monday.

The moment the verdict of his death sentence was pronounced, they erupted in jubilation and distributed sweets and some threw shoes at the convicts.

"Pradeep and his associates picked my son up and demanded Tk20 lakh; I paid Tk50,000 by mortgaging our homestead. They neither released him nor let me see my son for once. They killed my son in a crossfire," Halima Khatun, mother of Md Aziz killed in a gunfight with police, broke down in tears.