'Death of Major Sinha an isolated incident; won’t create rift between two forces'

Chief of Army Staff General Aziz Ahmed and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed have both stressed that the killing of retired army major Sinha Rashed Khan in police firing at a check-post in Cox's Bazar will not damage the existing cordial relationship between the two forces.

They said this during a joint press conference at Cox's Bazar Sena Kallyan Trust Rest House "Jal Taranga" on Wednesday at around 2:30 pm.

General Aziz said the only reason behind their coming to Cox's Bazar on the day was the untoward death of Major (retd) Sinha Rashed. Mentioning that they had exchanged views with senior officers of army and police in the area he also said both the forces are shocked over the death.

"We want to see this incident as an isolated one. As per instruction of the prime minister, a joint probe body was formed which began investigation into the incident yesterday (August 4). We have complete faith in the assurance of the honourable prime minister and the probe body," he said.

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General Aziz went on to say, "I want to say it unequivocally that this unpleasant incident will not be anything that will create any crisis in relations between the two forces." He also urged everyone to stay alert so that no incident can take place to create rift between the Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Police cashing in on the death of Sinha Rashed.     

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed said, "A section of people are trying to make provocative remarks over this incidence."

Those who are trying to accomplish their ulterior motives by making provocative remarks will not be successful, he warned.

Mentioning that the police has a relationship of mutual respect, faith and understanding with the army, he stressed that the incident will not make any difference to this relationship.

The joint committee formed to investigate the incident will complete an objective investigation and action will be taken as per the recommendations of the committee, added the IGP.

The army chief and the IGP reached Cox's Bazar Airport by a special helicopter at around 1.15 pm on Wednesday.

The joint briefing at Cox's Bazar army rest house later on the day was attended among others by Deputy Inspector General of police, Chattogram Range Golam Faruk, Deputy Commissioner of Cox's Bazar Md. Kamal Hossain, Superintendent of Police, Cox's Bazar ABM Masud Hossain and high officials of Ramu 10 Infantry Division of Army and police headquarters.     

Meanwhile, a case has been filed against Teknaf police station Officer-in-Charge Pradip Kumar Das, Baharchhara Check-post In-Charge Liakat Ali and seven other policemen over the killing of Sinha Rashed.

Sinha's sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous filed the case with the Teknaf Upazila Judicial Magistrate court at around 11:30 am on Wednesday.

Other accused are policemen Nando Dulal Rakkhit, Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Md Abdullah Al Mmaun, Liton Miah, Tutul, and Md Mustafa.

Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farha directed Teknaf Police Station to take the statement of the case and update the court on the order.

The commander of RAB-15 has been given the responsibility of the investigation into the case.

According to the case statement, Sinha Rashed Khan joined the Bangladesh Army as second lieutenant in 2004 after completing training of the 51st BML Long Course. He served the Special Security Force (SSF) from 2009 to 2012. He went to the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast in 2013 where he was promoted to the rank of major for his outstanding performance.

After returning from Ivory Coast, he took voluntary retirement in 2018, the case statement said, adding that a travel enthusiast, Sinha had embarked on creating a YouTube channel named "Just Go" to present Bangladesh before the world. He was working on to upload travel vlogs regarding different tourist attractions of the country.

As part of this, Sinha along with his team had been staying at Himchhari in Cox's Bazar renting two rooms at Neelima Resort. By this time, his team shot at various spots of the Marine Drive.

On July 31, they took videos from a hill in Baharchhara union of the upazila before they started for the resort.

On their way, Sinha and his associate were challenged by Baharchhara Check-post In-Charge Liakat and SI Nanda Dulal Rakkhit.

Sinha and his associate, Sifat, a videographer, were dragged off their vehicle despite providing their respective identities. The police officers then fired at Sinha, killing him on the spot.

A probe body, headed by Additional Divisional Commissioner of Chattogram Mizanur Rahman, started investigating into the incident on Tuesday.

21 policemen, including Liakat Ali and Pradip Saha, were closed on Saturday.