Court Forbids Lawyers to Disclose Testimony Related Info to Media

The second phase of testimony in the murder case of Major (retd) Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan has ended for today. However, the court barred the lawyers involved in the testimony from speaking in the media.

The testimony, which started at 10 am on Sunday (September 5), continued till evening.

Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge Court Public Prosecutor (PP) Faridul Alam said Mohammad Ali testified on the first day of the second phase. He was also interrogated by the lawyers of 15 accused. Today, however, the court warned both sides to speak to the media.

Postponing the testimony after the scheduled three days, he fixed September 5, 6, 7 and 8 as the date for the second phase of the testimony. As per the rules, 15 accused have been produced in the court.

Earlier on August 23, 24 and 25, the court accepted the statements of plaintiff and first witness Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous and second witness Shahedul Islam Sifat. Later, the lawyers of the accused interrogated them for a long time.

Earlier, on July 31 last year, Sinha was shot dead at the Shamlapur police check-post in Baharchhara Union of Cox's Bazar while returning to town after filming for a documentary.

On August 5, Sinha's sister, Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, filed a case with Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court accusing nine members of law enforcement agencies of being involved in the killing, including Pradeep Kumar Das and Baharchhara police outpost inspector Liakat Ali.

On December 13, 2020, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) submitted a charge sheet against 15 people, including police source Ayaz and three APBn members, in connection with the case filed over Sinha's murder at a checkpost manned by APBn, where officers of the Teknaf police station intercepted Sinha's car.

All of the 15 accused of the charge sheet are currently in jail. Of them, 12 have given confessional statements before the court except for OC Pradeep Kumar Das, constable Sagar Dev, and Rubel Sharma.

Other accused of the case are Inspector of Baharchara Police outpost Liakat Ali, sub-inspectors Nandolal Rakkhit and Tutul, assistant sub-inspector Liton Mia; constables Shafanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Abdullah AL Mamun, Md Rajib and Md Abdullah, ASI of APBN Md Shahjahan and Nurul Amin, Md Nizamuddin and Ayaz Uddin.