A panel, which was formed to investigate the killing of retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan in Cox's Bazar, has submitted its report to the home ministry.
The committee's chief Additional Divisional Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman handed over the report to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan at the Secretariat on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
He was accompanied by Lt Col S M Sazzad Hossain, the representative of the Armed Forces Division in the panel.
Sinha was shot dead at a police checkpost in Teknaf on July 31. The home ministry subsequently formed a three-strong committee to probe the incident. Later, two more members were added to the panel.
“The authorities asked the panel to investigate the motive and cause of the shooting and to draw recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future,” the home minister said after receiving the report.
“This is a complete report, but we haven’t checked it yet. Our secretary will analyse the report and take actions accordingly,” he added.
The home minister refused to talk further about the matter, citing an ongoing police investigation into the incident.
“You must be aware that police are investigating the incident as per a court order. That’s why we can’t say anything in public. We’ll inform the court about the report. The court can also collect the report from us for the investigation if it wants. This falls completely within the authority of the court.”
The ministry will take action against those named in the investigation report, said the home minister.
Asked whether the incident was pre-planned, Kamal said, “I have just received the report. We’re not aware of its content. Let us study it and then we’ll inform you.”
“It was an unfortunate incident and we hope this is never repeated. The report explains how and why it happens -- we need to study it.”
POLICE UNDIMINISHED
The incident will not diminish the role of the police as a public security organ, according to the head of the probe panel.
"This incident does not in any way undermine the role of our police force which works tirelessly to maintain law and order in the country," said Mizanur.
The report on Sinha's killing was more than a month in the making, he noted, adding it thoroughly analysed the cause of the shooting and recommended measures to prevent such incidents in future.
“In our action plan, we drew up a list of people who were possibly involved in the incident. In the end, 58 names were on the list. We interrogated these 58 people, recorded their statements. We also went to the scene of the shooting," he said.
"We reenacted the incident with APBN personnel at night to try and understand what happened. I went to the hill where Major Sinha went. I talked to the people there. We have made a thorough analysis of the factors the triggered the incident and placed our recommendations.”