Sacked OC Pradeep gets 20-year imprisonment, wife 21-year in graft case

Chittagong court has sentenced suspended OC of Teknaf police Pradeep Kumar Das to 20-year rigorous imprisonment and his wife Chumki Karan to 21-year in a graft case.

Judge Munshi Abdul Majed of the Chittagong Divisional Special Judge’s Court announced the verdict on Wednesday.

The two have been fined Tk4 crore by the court.

The court also instructed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to confiscate all the assets owned by the couple, said public prosecutor Mahmudul Haque Mahmud.

Pradeep, also a death row convict in the murder case of Major Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan (retired), is currently lodged in Chattogram district Jail. His wife is also in judicial custody.

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.