Rayhan murder: ASI Ashek denied bail

A Sylhet court has rejected the bail petition of suspended Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Ashek Elahi in a case filed over the custodial death of Rayhan Ahmed.

Ashek’s lawyer filed the bail petition in the court of Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Abdur Rahim on Wednesday.

Public Prosecutor (PP) Advocate Nowshad Ahmed Chowdury opposed the bail and told the court that Rayhan was tortured to death for only Tk10,000.

“No accused in this case should be granted bail,” he added.

After hearing the statement of the public prosecutor, the court denied the bail to ASI Ashek.

On October 29, 2020, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrested Ashek from Sylhet Police Lines where he was attached after being suspended.

Also read - Rayhan murder: SI Hasan of Bandarbazar police outpost arrested

On October 11, 34-year-old Rayhan, a resident of Akhalia in Sylhet city, was beaten to death in police custody at Bandar Bazar police outpost.

The next day, Rayhan's wife Tahmina Akhter Tanni filed a case under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act 2013 with Sylhet Kotwali police station.

The case has since been transferred to Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) following the family's demand.

A forensic medical board of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital, in its second autopsy report, said Rayhan had died due to injuries he sustained from a blunt weapon.

In the first autopsy report, the doctors found 111 injury marks on Rayhan's body. Of them, 14 were serious injuries.

According to the autopsy report, two of Rayhan's fingernails had been removed. Such torture was carried out on him for two to four hours before his death. The medical board found similarities between the first autopsy report and the second one.

A probe body of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) also found the truth of the torture.

SI Akbar, the then in-charge of Bandar Bazar police outpost, and three police personnel were suspended on October 12 while three others were also withdrawn from the outpost.

Akbar fled from police custody on October 13 and was arrested at the Dona border in the northeastern district's Kanaighat upazila on November 9. So far, six policemen have been arrested in connection to this case.