OC Pradeep planned to kill Sinha by terming him a robber, witness tells court

Former Teknaf Police Station officer-in-charge Pradeep Kumar Das had offered Tk5 lakh to accused Nurul Amin and Ayash Uddin for killing Major Sinha by terming the retired army officer a robber.

Hafez Jahirul Islam, the 10th witness in Sinha's murder case, made the statement on Tuesday at the Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge's Court.

"On the night of the murder, I heard Nizamuddin making announcement through the microphone of a nearby mosque. He was asking people to be careful as there were some robbers in the hill," said witness Jahirul, who is the imam of a local mosque.

He said that he was asked to make announcement about robbers from his mosque but he didn't do this as he knew they were not robbers because saw someone in army uniform was going to the hill.

"When I went to the hill I saw Nurul Amin and Ayash were coming from the South side of the hill. They told me that robbers came here in army uniform to rob us. Nurul Amin also informed me that OC Pradeep gave them Tk5 lakh to kill the robbers. 

"They also offered me to give Tk2 lakh from their share if I announce from my mosque's microphone about the robbers. But I refused them."

The formal proceedings of the Sinha murder trial on 23 August.

The witnesses who received the notice to testify before the court are Sinha's sister Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous; Sahidul Islam Sifat; Mohammad Ali of Minabazar area of Teknaf; Mohammad Abdul Hamid of Shamlapur area; Mohammad Yunus; Firoz Mahmud; Mahibullah, Mohammad Amin; Mohammad Kamal Hossain; Mohammad Shawkat Ali; Sergeant Ayub Ali of Ramu Cantonment Mohammad; Shipra Debnath; 2 doctors from Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital Shaheen Abdur Rahman Chowdhury and Randhir Debnath; and Hafeez Zahirul Islam from Marishbunia village in Baharchhara, Teknaf.

However, it took the court three days to only record testimony and complete cross-examination of the two main witnesses - Major Sinha's sister Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous and prime witness Sahidul Islam Sifat.

Major Sinha (Retd) was shot dead by the police at the Shamlapur police check post under Baharchhara union in Teknaf Upazila on July 31 last year.

Sinha's sister filed a murder case with the Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court accusing nine people, including then OC Pradeep and inspector Liakat Ali on August 5. All nine policemen accused were dismissed from the force.

Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Mohammad Khairul Islam, investigating officer of RAB-15, filed the chargesheet in the case on December 13 last year, accusing 15 people and naming 83 witnesses, after more than four months of investigation.

The accused in the case include suspended inspector of Baharchhara police outpost Liakat Ali, OC of Teknaf police station Pradeep Kumar Das, Rubel Sharma, bodyguard, Teknaf Police Station SI Nandadulal Rakshit, ASI Liton Mia, constables Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Abdullah Al Mamun, Sagar Deb, Md Rajiv and Md Abdullah, and SI of APBN Md Shahjahan.