Ex-OC Pradeep sued for killing man even after taking ransom

A case has been filed against suspended officer-in-charge of Teknaf police station Pradeep Kumar Das and 27 others with a Cox's Bazar court for allegedly shooting a young man, Saddam Hossain, dead even after his family paid them Tk5 lakh in ransom.

The Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court on Tuesday recorded a criminal case filed by Gul Cheher, the mother of slain Saddam Hossain.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Helal Uddin directed the Criminal Investigation Department to probe the case with the help of an officer similar to the rank of an assistant superintendent of police, said the plaintiff's lawyers Abdul Bari and Insafur Rahman.

In the case, Hoaikyong Police Outpost In-Charge Mashiur Rahman has been made the prime accused while Pradeep the second.

Of the total accused, 27 are police members. The other is Nurul Amin Prakash Nurullah, a dafadar of Hnila Union Parishad.

According to the case statement, the plaintiff alleged that, on July 4, Mashiur Rahman, along with a group of policemen arrested Saddam and his brother Jahed Hossain, sons of late Sultan Ahmed Prakash Badshah of Moulvibazar area of ​​Hnila union, from the road near their house.

The plaintiff (mother) went to the outpost to rescue them, but Mashiur Rahman demanded Tk10 lakh in ransom to set them free. At one point of bargaining, he agreed on taking Tk5 lakh.

On the same day, Gul Cheher handed over Tk3 lakh directly to Mashiur, while the rest of the ransom money was given to Dafadar Nurul Amin as per an instruction by Mashiur.

She further mentioned in the statement that Mashiur sent Jahed to court after taking Tk5 lakh.

On July 8, at around 10pm, police shot Saddam and another man at a place 300 yards away from his home. Saddam was seriously injured. When police took him to the hospital, the on-duty doctor declared him dead.

Shortly before Saddam was murdered, his father Sultan Ahmed Prakash Badshah was also shot dead by police in a "gunfight", according to the statement.

Losing her husband and son in a short span of time, Plaintiff Gul Cheher broke down psychologically. Besides, police regularly threatened her not to proceed with the case any further. Gul Cheher mentioned in the statement that all these caused a delay in filing the case.

The other defendants in the case are Hoaikyong police outpost Sub-Inspector (SI) Sujit Chandra Dey, SI Arun Kumar Dey, SI Md Nazim Uddin Bhuiyan, SI Nazim Uddin, SI Kamruzzaman, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Amir Hossain, ASI Kazi Saifuddin, ASI Nazim Uddin, ASI Main Uddin, ASI Mazharul Islam, ASI Naimul Haque, ASI Mishkat Uddin, ASI Ram Chandra Das, Sagar Dev, Abu Hanif, Md Shariful Islam, Md Aziz, Deen Islam, Md Borhan, Md Jasim Uddin, Abdu Shukkur, Shekander, and Mohiuddin.