Sinha murder: Pradeep, Liakat seek acquittal from hanging

PBC News:  Suspended Teknaf Police Station officer-in-charge Pradeep Kumar Das and suspended inspector of Baharchhara police outpost Liakat Ali, who were sentenced to death by hanging in the sensational Major (Retd) Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan murder case, have appealed to the High Court seeking acquittal.

Advocate Rana Dasgupta, Pradeep’s lawyer, confirmed it to the media on Tuesday (February 15).

Rana Dasgupta said the appeal on behalf of Pradeep was filed on Monday. “We stated in the appeal that the judgement pronounced by a judicial court against him was not done through proper analyses. The court delivered the judgement hastily. We pleaded to the High Court to declare the judicial court’s verdict ‘invalid’ by holding a hearing on our appeal,” he said.

Apart from Advocate Rana Dasgupta, senior lawyer Munsurul Huq Chowdhury and Barrister Sifat Mahmud will appear on behalf of Pradeep at the upper court.

Besides, appeal was filed on behalf of another death-row convict Liakat in the case, said Rana Dasgupta. Advocate SM Shahjahan will appear at the High Court on behalf of Liakat.

OC Pradeep and Inspector Liakat’s death references reached High Court on February 8 last.

Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ismail pronounced the verdict in Major (Retd) Sinha murder case on January 31, sentencing Pradeep and Liaquat to death.

The court also handed life imprisonment to six suspended policemen and their informants, and acquitted seven others.

In July 2020, police gunned down Sinha on Cox’s Bazar marine drive while he was driving to the capital. After the killing, cops arrested two of his associates on narcotics charges the same night.

Pradeep-Liaquat duo initially branded the killing as a shootout with police on the Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar Marine Drive. During his tenure, a total of 205 people were killed in ‘gunfights’ with police which the court termed as ‘crossfire dramas’ in the verdict of the Sinha murder case.