Now, India, Bangladesh face off over Hadi's killers
Bangladesh claims murder suspects of radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi have fled to Meghalaya, India. However, Indian security agencies, including the BSF and Meghalaya DGP, have strongly refuted these allegations, stating there is no evidence of any fugitive crossing the border. They dismissed the claims as fabricated and emphasized robust border surveillance.
Bajrang Dal activists during a protest in Lucknow
DHAKA/SHILLONG: Bangladesh claimed on Sunday that the two prime suspects in the murder of radical Inqilab Moncho leader Sharif Osman Hadi had found sanctuary in neighbouring Meghalaya, inviting instant rebuttals from Indian security agencies about what they said were "fabricated and malicious" statements suggesting lapses in BSF's border vigil."Suspects Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh crossed into the Indian state of Meghalaya with the help of local associates," Dhaka Metropolitan Police's additional police commissioner (crime and operations) S N Md Nazrul Islam said at a presser. "According to our information, the suspects entered India via the Haluaghat border."
BSF dismisses Bangladesh claim, says no proof of any fugitive crossing the border into IndiaDhaka Metropolitan Police’s additional police commissioner (crime and operations) S N Md Nazrul Islam said his department had received “informal reports” about two men identified as “Purti and Sami” being detained in India for assisting the fugitives.BSF inspector general (Meghalaya frontier) Om Prakash Upadhyay said in Shillong that “there is no evidence to suggest any individual crossed the international border from the Haluaghat sector into Meghalaya” from Mymensingh in Bangladesh. “BSF has neither detected nor received any report of such an incident,” PTI quoted Upadhyay as saying. He said the international border was under constant surveillance & any attempt at illegal cross-border movement would be promptly detected and dealt with.
Meghalaya DGP Idashisha Nongrang, too, issued a statement contradicting the Dhaka police officer’s claim about two alleged collaborators of the fugitives being detained in West Garo Hills. She said reports emerging from Bangladesh about the whereabouts of the killers of 32-year-old Hadi, whose shooting on December 12 plunged the country into another cycle of violent unrest, were “unfounded”.Bangladeshi media quoted Islam as alleging that local contacts helped the fugitives travel by taxi to Tura, the headquarters of West Garo Hills district.
He insisted the Bangladesh govt was “actively working” to bring the suspects back. “We are maintaining communication with Indian authorities through both formal and informal channels to ensure their arrest and extradition,” Islam said.The unsubstantiated claims come in the wake of Inqilab Moncho’s 30-day ultimatum to the Muhammad Yunus-led interim govt to arrest his killers. The countdown started on December 19, a day after Hadi died in a Singapore hospital of bullet injuries to the head. Hadi was among those who led the July-Aug 2024 mass uprising in Bangladesh that led to Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League govt being toppled. He was a candidate for the upcoming February 12 parliamentary elections and was shot while campaigning in Dhaka. Hadi’s brother Omar recently accused some within the interim govt of orchestrating the killing to derail the polls.