Investigation into the explosion that occurred in the Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa) police department on December 1, 2017 has been completed.  Criminal proceedings have been instituted against district police inspector, whose name has not been disclosed.  He reportedly faces charge of negligent homicide.

Khatlon chief prosecutor Nasrullo Mahmoudzoda told reporters in Bokhtar yesterday that investigation into the December 1 explosion in the Bokhtar police department, in which Captain Muhiddin Zohidzoda was killed, has been completed.  

According to him, criminal proceedings have been instituted against district police officer, who reportedly found the anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher and brought it to the police department.  

“The district police officer faces charges of negligent homicide (Article 108 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and negligence (Article 322),” Khatlon chief prosecutor noted. 

Mahmoudzoda further added that the case had been remitted to the Prosecutor-General’s Office for examination and from there it would move to a court.  

According to the Interior Ministry, Captain Muhiddin Zohidzoda, an investigator with the Interior Ministry’s office for Bokhtar, was killed in the explosion that occurred in the evening of December 1.  A loaded RPG (hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher) reportedly exploded when Captain Zohidzoda was registering weapons found by police officers in one of districts of Bokhtar. 

Arms caches having been discovered in the city are legacy of the country's disastrous civil war. 

The RPG is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher).  A rocket-propelled grenade (often abbreviated RPG) is a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon system that fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead.  Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier.

An anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher comprises two main parts: the launcher and a rocket equipped with a warhead. The most common types of warheads are high explosive (HE) and high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins.