The team investigating the killing of retired major Sinha Md Rashed Khan is basically looking for the answer to three vital questions, officials have said.
They said that the answer to these questions will reveal the actual facts of the incident.
Shipra Debnath, a witness in the Sinha killing case, may give her deposition in court today, Saturday.
Meanwhile, 14 days into the investigations, the investigating officer has been changed. Senior assistant police superintendent Khairul Islam has now been given the responsibility of investigating the case.
Persons involved in the investigations have said it is vital to find the answer to three basic questions in this case. One, was the killing planned or was it committed on the spur of the moment? Two, on whose orders did Liaqat shoot Sinha? Three, did Sinha have a gun in his hand or not when he was killed?
Sources have said that the former officer-in-charge (OC) of the Teknaf police station, Pradeep Kumar Das, had phoned the Cox’s Bazar police super and told him that he had ordered Liaqat to shoot Sinha. However, the investigating team is trying to find further evidence of whether Liaqat had taken permission from the OC or anyone else before shooting Sinha.
Sinha’s associate, Shahidul Islam Sifat, told police that he had not seen whether Sinha had a gun in his hand when he got out of the car. In the case filed by the police it was said that Sinha drew a pistol from his right hip as he got out of the car.
Director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Ashik Billah, told Prothom Alo that further investigations would reveal everything.
The inquiry committee has called for a public hearing to unearth the truth of the Sinha killing incident. This public hearing will be held at 10 am on Sunday at the office of the Shamlapur Rohingya camp in-charge in Teknaf.
The investigating officer of the Sinha killing case was changed on Friday. Senior assistant police super Khairul Islam has now been put in charge. Previously assistant police super Jamilul Huq had been the investigating officer.
When asked the reasons behind the change, RAB spokesman Ashik Billah told Prothom Alo an investigating officer can be changed at any time. This is a very common process.
In the meantime, RAB has begun interrogating seven persons, including four members of the police. A RAB vehicle took the seven persons from the Cox’s Bazar district jail at 10am on Friday. They are constable Safanur Karim, constable Kamal Hossain, constable Abdullah Al Mamun, ASI Liton Miah and, three witnesses in the case filed by the police, are Md Aiyas, Nurul Amin and Nasim Uddin of the village Marisbunia in Teknaf.
On Wednesday the Cox’s Bazar senior judicial magistrate’s court granted seven days remand for the seven persons to be interrogated.
The district jail super Mokammel Hossain told Prothom Alo that the seven persons arrested in the Sinha killing case, including four members of the police, were taken away in a RAB vehicle. The three main accused in the case –dismissed Teknaf OC Pradeep Kumar Das, Baharchhari police outpost in-charge Liaqat Ali and sub-inspector (SI) of the police station Nandadulal Rakkhit – were in jail.
The inquiry committee has called for a public hearing to unearth the truth of the Sinha killing incident. This public hearing will be held at 10 am on Sunday at the office of the Shamlapur Rohingya camp in-charge in Teknaf.
Sinha Md Rashed Khan was shot dead by police at the Shamlapur check post on 31 July when he was driving back along Marine Drive to the Nilima resort in Himchhari, Cox’s Bazar, after filming for a documentary in the hills of Marisbunia.