The Anti-corruption Commission has formally charged in court former Teknaf OC Pradip Kumar Das, the main accused in the shooting death of retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan, and his wife Chumki Karon for having assets beyond means.
ACC Assistant Director Md Riyaz Uddin submitted the charge-sheet to the Senior Special Judges Court in Chattogram on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
The national anti-graft agency charged Pradip and Chumki with amassing more than Tk 23.5 million beyond known sources of income, and money laundering. They also concealed information on the assets of Tk 4.9 million.
The date for hearing over the charge-sheet will be fixed once regular proceedings resume after the coronavirus lockdown, said ACC lawyer Mahmudul Haque.
As many as 29 people have been named in the case as witnesses.
The ACC prosecuted Pradip and Chumki on Aug 23, 2020 after finding substance in the allegations that Pradip had earned a fortune through “bribes and corruption”.
Pradip and Chumki were initially charged with amassing more than Tk 39.5 million beyond known sources of income, concealing information on assets and money laundering. The amount changed after the investigation.
OC Pradip committed a punishable criminal offence by possessing wealth achieved through “bribery and corruption” and transferring them to his wife and father-in-law, Haque said.
The assets mentioned in the charge-sheet include a six-storey building in the port city’s Patharghata, a half-building at Solosahar, 45 Bhori of gold jewellery (1 Bhori = 11.664 grams), cars and a microbus and an apartment in Cox’s Bazar.
Chumki got the ownership of the six-storey house in Patharghata from her father, but the ACC found it was built with the ill-gotten money of her husband.
It appears that Pradip first documented the house using his father-in-law’s name and later took it back by using Chumki’s name, the ACC case says.
Chumki has been filing her income tax returns since 2013-14 fiscal year claiming she earned money from fish business and house rent.
But the ACC did not find any of her businesses.
Pradip, accused of ordering the killing of Sinha, joined the police in 1996.
He had been suspended as the second officer of Kotwali Police Station in Chattogram in 2004 on charges of grabbing the land of a widow at Patharghata.
He later began working in Cox’s Bazar district police and got promoted to officer-in-charge of Patenga Police Station in 2010-11.