Retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan was killed because he “came to know about Teknaf police’s OC Pradip Kumar Das’s links to drug business, the RAB has said.
The basic finding of the investigation was that it was a “planned” murder, said Lt Col Ashique Billah, spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), reports bdnews24.com.
“It happened because Sinha came to know about Pradip’s arbitrariness and yaba trade,” he said at a press conference in Dhaka on Sunday after the investigation officer charged Pradip and 14 others in the case.
The others formally charged in the case include Liakat Ali, the Baharchhara Police Camp inspector who fired the shots at a checkpoint in Cox’s Bazar on Jul 31.
The former army officer had been staying at Nilima Resort in Himchhari of Cox’s Bazar with three others for around a month to film a travel documentary.
After his death, police said they fired in self-defence when Sinha brandished a pistol at law enforcers after obstructing a search of his vehicle at the checkpoint on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive. The entire shooting episode took only one and a half minutes, the RAB had earlier said.
Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous subsequently started a case against nine policemen while the government formed a high-level probe committee after questions were raised about the details of the incident provided by the police.
Allegations of ‘extrajudicial killings’ against the police also resurfaced.
Later, seven policemen, including Liakat and Pradip, surrendered to the court in connection with the case filed by Sinha's sister. They were also suspended from their jobs.
The government also made wholesale changes to the police force in Cox's Bazar with almost all police personnel, including top officers and constables, being transferred out of the district.
Liakat, the key suspect, filed a revision petition seeking the dismissal of the case filed by Sinha's sister, claiming it was 'illegal', but the court refused his plea on Sunday.