The families of victims staged a demonstration in front of the Cox’s Bazar courthouse to demand the death penalty for former Teknaf police OC Pradip Kumar Das over the murder of retired army Major Sinha Md Rashed Khan.
About 30 to 40 people lined up near the entranceway to the district court around 10:00am on Monday, the day of the verdict.
The protesters claim to be the families of the people Pradip killed and terrorised under the guise of an anti-drug campaign in the area. Pradip was known for threatening to kill people in staged gunfights with law enforcers and extorting their families for money.
Some of the protesters were carrying photographs of the loved ones killed in these alleged gunfights, reports bdnews24.com.
The protesters called for OC Pradip to receive the death sentence and for a fair verdict in the Major Sinha murder case.
In July 2020, officers of the law in Cox's Bazar shot and killed retired army officer Sinha in an egregious abuse of their authority, sparking a public outcry.
Sinha, 36, was a member of the Special Security Force tasked with guarding the prime minister. Sinha had gone into early retirement to pursue his personal interests.
Fifteen policemen, including then-chief of Teknaf police Pradip Kumar Das, stand accused of murdering Sinha at a checkpoint in the resort town's Marine Drive.
After the incident, the lid was blown on Pradip's chequered past. An investigation from the Ministry of Home Affairs found that 174 people were killed in 106 ‘gunfights’ during the 33-month tenure of Pradip as Teknaf Police Station chief.
One of the victims was 20-year-old Abdul Aziz, a rickshaw driver from Teknaf’s Dale Para.
On Nov 18, 2019, Aziz was having breakfast at a local restaurant when he was picked up by police. His family paid the ransom they demanded, but he was still killed in a police ‘crossfire’.
Aziz’s mother Halima Khatun stood outside the court on Wednesday holding a photograph of her son.
“The police took my son,” she said, with tears streaming down her face. “OC Pradip demanded Tk 1 million in ransom. We mortgaged our house and gave them Tk 600,000. But two days later they killed my son in their ‘crossfire’.”
“Now we don’t have a home and I don’t have my son.”
Murad Hasan Chowdhury, a resident of Teknaf’s Huila area, is a member of the Jubo Dal. On Sept 2, 2019 he was detained by police from his home.