Ex-OC Pradeep gets 20yrs jail, wife 21yrs

A Chattogram court on Wednesday sentenced suspended officer-in-charge (OC) of Teknaf police station Pradeep Kumar Das to 20 years and his wife Chumki Karan to 21 years jail. At the same time, the court ordered the confiscation of all their properties.

The judgment of the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission was announced in the court of Chittagong Divisional Special Judge Munshi Abdul Majeed.

ACC’s lawyer PP Mahmudul Haque of Chittagong court informed the media that the charges brought against the accused have been proved in court.

On July 18, the court fixed Wednesday as the judgment day in the case.

On December 15, 2021, the Chattogram court indicted ex-OC Pradeep and his wife in the case. On September 1 last year, the court accepted a chargesheet in the graft case against the former cop and his wife.

ACC Chittagong assistant director Md Riaz Uddin submitted the chargesheet on July 26. The Commission filed the case against the couple for amassing wealth over Tk 4 crore, on August 23 in 2020.

ACC sources said the anti-graft watchdog’s investigation against the disgraced cop started way back in 2018. On April 20 last year, he and his wife were asked to submit their wealth statement which they did in two months.

It may be mentioned here that on July 31, 2020, Major Sinha was shot dead at the Shamlapur police check-post in Baharchhara union of Cox’s Bazar on his way back to the town after filming for a documentary.

On August 5, 2020, Sinha’s sister, Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, filed a case in Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court accusing nine members of law enforcement agencies of being involved in the killing, including ex-OC Pradeep and Baharchhara police outpost inspector Liakat Ali.

On December 13, the same year, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) submitted a charge-sheet against 15 people, including ex-OC Pradeep, police informer Ayaz and three APBn members, in the case.

On June 27, 2021, the court framed charges against them.

On August 23, 2020, a case of illegal acquisition of wealth was filed against Pradeep and his wife Chumki Karan.

Of the wealth, a total of 3,95,00,635 taka was obtained through bribery and corruption, ACC alleged. Another allegation of concealment of assets worth Tk 13,13,175 was also brought against them.

Accused Pradeep Kumar Das was sentenced to death in the case of the murder of retired Army Major Sinha Mohammad Rashed.