The investigation committee looking into the case filed over the murder of retired army official Sinha Md Rashed Khan could not find any phone record of a conversation between the two main accused Teknaf police station OC Pradeep Kumar Das and inspector Liaqat Ali before and after the murder.
Mentioning these limitations, the investigation committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs has submitted its report at 11:00am on Monday.
When asked, additional divisional commissioner of Chattogram Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, head of the investigation committee, told Prothom Alo over phone on Sunday, "We did not get the phone records of the people we needed to listen to. No phone records were found. We wrote to the authorities, but did not get any response.
However, the head of the committee did not make any comment about who was responsible for not getting the record.
Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said, “Due to the ongoing criminal cases, many people involved have been arrested. So the interrogation had to go through the legal process. We could not talk to the accused,” he said, adding that these restrictions did not prevent them from determining the source and cause of the killings.
The four-member committee formed after Sinha's killing was asked to investigate the cause of the incident and make recommendations on what to do to avoid such incidents in the future. In this context, the committee sought answers to some basic questions. One of them was to find out whether the incident was immediate or premeditated and who was the instigator.
Mizanur Rahman said, "Whether the incident is immediate or pre-planned, it is in the report. I can't say that in front of the media now.”
The original investigation report prepared was 80 pages long. It contains 13 recommendations to avoid such incidents in the future. In addition, the original report will be accompanied by 21 pages of pictures and 586 pages of testimony of various witnesses. Apart from this, some video images will also be added to the two pen drives and submitted.
It was learned that all the four members of the committee would be present while submitting the report. The other three members of the committee are Cox's Bazar additional district magistrate Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, Bangladesh Army lieutenant colonel SM Sajjad Hossain and additional deputy inspector general of Bangladesh Police Zakir Hossain Khan.
Major (eetd) Sinha was shot dead by police at Shamlapur check post on his way back to Nilima Resort in Himchhari area of Cox's Bazar on Marine Drive in Marishbunia hill in Teknaf on 31 July night.
Four more policemen remanded
The RAB has remanded four more accused in the Sinha murder case for four days in the second phase at 11:00am yesterday. They are four members of Teknaf Police Station - SI Liton Mia, constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain and Abdullah Al Mamun.
Mokammel Hossain, the superintendent of the district jail, said a RAB vehicle came to the jail around 11:00am and took the four accused for questioning.