The name Pradeep Kumar Das, the withdrawn officer-in-charge (OC) of Teknaf police station, in charge of killing former Army Major Sinha, is a name dreaded in his jurisdiction.
Human rights campaigners have long been criticizing his activities because of the sheer number of extrajudicial killings that took place within his jurisdiction.
In the name of “gunfight,” “crossfire,” or “shootouts,” the subordinates of Pradeep were involved in at least 56% of the extrajudicial killings of the total extrajudicial killings in the entire Cox’s Bazar district.
Pradeep joined Bangladesh Police as a sub-inspector in 1995 and spent most of his career in Chittagong region in the last 25 years.
He took charge of Teknaf police station just two years ago.
A total of 287 people fell victim to the so-called “gunfight” or “crossfire” in Cox’s Bazar between May 4, 2018 and July, this year. Among them, 161 were killed extrajudicially by Teknaf police station, according to media reports.
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Although law enforcement agencies claim that these killings were “crossfire” or “shootout” or “gunfight,” Dhaka Tribune was not able to verify the claim.
Police claim that all who are killed in such “gunfights” are people with criminal cases against them or they are involved in yaba trade, or robbing.
Pradeep came into limelight after he publicly made statements supporting “crossfire or gunfights.”
One of his recent remarks went viral in social media in a footage where the withdrawn Teknaf OC threatened to set fire on houses of drug traders to make Teknaf free of drugs by December 16, 2020.
The withdrawn OC Pradeep received the prestigious Bangladesh Police Medal award in 2019 for his contribution to the force. However he was highlighted for killing people under the guise of different drives, in six separate incidents.
Police escort former Teknaf police OC Pradeep Kumar Das at the Senior Judicial Magistrate Court premises in Cox’s Bazar on Thursday, August 6, 2020 | Dhaka Tribune
The six incidents took place between October 24 and November 30, 2018, when an anti-drug drive was ongoing in Bangladesh.
In the first incident, two alleged drug peddlers were killed when police conducted a drive at Sabrang union parishad in Teknaf.
In the second incident, a bullet hit yaba trader was detained from Moheshkhalia Para who was later declared dead at hospital.
In another incident, another alleged yaba trader was also killed by police.
In the case of Major Sinha, his sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous claimed that Sinha was killed premeditatedly and the police officer killed him in cold blood following instruction from his supervisor Pradeep Kumar Das.