Sinha killed as he came to know of OC Pradeep’s illicit activities

Retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan was killed according to the plans and direct support of Pradeep Kumar Das, the dismissed officer-in-charge of Teknaf police station in Cox’s Bazar. Pradeep had been involved in all sorts of illegal activities in Teknaf, using legal firearms. Sinha was killed as he came to know about these illicit activities of the OC.

RAB’s legal and media wing director Lt Col Ashik Billah revealed this at a press briefing held today, Sunday, at the RAB media centre in Karwan Bazar. Earlier in the morning, the RAB investigating officer, senior assistant superintendent of police Khairul Islam, submitted the charge sheet of the Sinha Md Rashed Khan murder case to the Cox’s Bazar chief metropolitan magistrate court. RAB informed the media about the charge sheet details in the afternoon.

Retired army major Sinha Md Rashed was killed in police fire on 31 July at the Baharchhara outpost along the Cox’s Bazar Marine Driver. The police filed three cases in this regard at the Teknaf and Ramu police stations, accusing Sinha Md Rashed Khan, Shahedul Islam Sifat and Shipra Debnath of possessing drugs and obstructing official duty. RAB submitted its final report to the court, asking for these charges to be dropped. And the charge sheet submitted today by RAB, was for the case filed at the Cox’s Bazar court by Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shariya.

Ashik Billah said RAB has investigated the case with neutrality and professionalism. It took the investigating official four months and 10 days to complete investigations. Five persons have been accused. They included 9 dismissed police members of the Teknaf police station, 3 members of APBn, and 3 civilians. And 14 of the persons named in charge sheet are in jail. Among those named in the charge sheet, 12 have given depositions in court. Dismissed police officers Pradeep Kumar Das and Rubel Sharma did not make confessional statements. The investigating officer took statements of 83 witnesses. He also examined various evidence and digital content.

Ashik Billah told the media that the plan to carry out this killing was made in July, Sinha Md Rashed Khan was a friendly person and had gone to Teknaf as part of starting up his YouTube channel. He soon struck up friendship with the local people. He came to know about the oppression and torture inflicted on the people by OC Pradeep. He also had evidence of Pradeep’s dealing in yaba. The evidence he had collected was a threat to Pradeep. He went to the Teknaf police station to interview Pradeep Kumar Das, where Pradeep directly threatened him and told him to stay away from such activities. Sinha, however, continue with his efforts. Later Pradeep held a meeting at the police station with the sub-inspector Liakat and three informants. Pradeep instructed them to finalised the plan to kill Sinha.

According to RAB, Sinha Md Rashed Khan was shot at 9:25pm on the night of 31 July. Upon hearing the news, Pradeep Kumar Das went to the spot to confirm that Sinha was dead. He was very careless about sending Sinha to hospital. Other accused persons who were at the spot, staged a drama to divert the killing to a different direction.

What did Sinha’s digital devices contain? Did the investigating officer check these? In reply to these questions of the media, Ashik Billah said that there had been no need to check these. As to whether there was proof that Sinha and his companions had been to the police station, Ashik Billah said no footage of the Teknaf police station was available due to technical error.

Concerning the role of police super Masud Hossain, the investigating officer said that that he had played a compromising role by not visiting the spot of the incident and not taking necessary action. He recommended that departmental action be taken in this regard.

When asked if the gunfights in Teknaf had been staged in such a manner, Ashik Billah said that each incident was separate. They were investigating a particular criminal case. Earlier, Teknaf’s municipal councilor Ekramul Haque has been killed in RAB fire, according to the councilor’s wife. Ashik Billah gave the same reply when asked if RAB was investigating that case. He said, the press briefing was about the Sinha killing.