The High Court on Thursday set June 2 for announcing its verdict on the death reference and appeals in the sensational murder case of retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan.
Sinha was allegedly shot dead by police in Cox鈥檚 Bazar in 2020.
The bench of Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and Justice Md Sagir Hossain fixed the date after completing hearings that began on April 23.
The verdict will determine the fate of former Teknaf police officer-in-charge Pradeep Kumar Das and Baharchhara police outpost in-charge Md Liyakat Ali, who were both sentenced to death by a Cox鈥檚 Bazar court on January 31, 2022, for their involvement聽 in the killing.
The court will also rule on the appeals of six other convicts who were handed life sentences in the same case鈥攕ub-inspector Nanda Dulal Rakshit, constables Rubel Sharma and Sagar Dev, and three civilians Nurul Amin, Nizam Uddin, and Ayas Uddin. Major Sinha, who had taken early retirement from the Bangladesh Army in 2018 to pursue documentary filmmaking, was returning from a filming trip with his cameraman Shahidul Islam Sefat when he was shot dead by police at a checkpoint on the Cox鈥檚 Bazar鈥揟eknaf Marine Drive on July 31, 2020.
During the trial, the Cox鈥檚 Bazar District and Sessions Judge Court found that the killing was premeditated.
The police initially claimed that Sinha was killed in a gunfight, a narrative later debunked by investigators.
In the appeals hearing, senior lawyer Munsurul Haque Chowdhury, representing Pradeep, sought his acquittal, arguing that his client had no prior knowledge of the incident and was implicated solely on the basis of a confession by co-accused Liyakat Ali.
He contended that the confession was recorded during Liyakat鈥檚 third remand, which he termed unlawful.
Senior lawyer SM Shajahan, appearing for Liyakat, requested that his client鈥檚 sentence should be commuted from death to life imprisonment.
Defence lawyers for the other six convicts also sought acquittal, claiming their clients were not involved in the killing.
Attorney general Md Asaduzzaman opposed the appeals and urged the court to uphold the trial court鈥檚 judgment, stressing that impunity for extrajudicial killings in the name of crossfire must end by awarding exemplary punishment to murderers of Sinha.
Citing prosecution witnesses, the attorney general stated that Sinha was shot twice after stepping out of his car, followed by two more shots.
鈥楬is death was confirmed by pressing a boot on his throat,鈥� he told the court, describing the killing as cold-blooded one which shocked the nation.
