No Evidence Of Border Crossing, Say BSF And Meghalaya Police On Hadi Murder

Meghalaya Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday rejected claims from Bangladesh that the suspected killers of Sharif Osman Hadi had crossed into India, saying there was no evidence of any such movement across the border.

According to The Telegraph, senior police officers in Meghalaya said there had been “no detention nor arrest of anybody” entering the state from Bangladesh, countering assertions made by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). The officers added that while the claims were being verified, there was no confirmation of any cross-border entry by the suspects.

The denial came after media reports in Bangladesh quoted the DMP as claiming that two prime suspects in Hadi’s murder — Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh — had “crossed into the Indian state of Meghalaya with the help of local associates” via the Haluaghat border in Mymensingh.

PTI quoted BSF inspector-general (Meghalaya) O.P. Upadhyay as saying there was “no evidence to suggest that any individual crossed the international border from the Haluaghat sector into Meghalaya”. He described the claims emanating from Dhaka as “unfounded and misleading”.

As The Telegraph reported, Meghalaya Police officials maintained that no arrests had been made in connection with the case within the state. An official in Tura told this newspaper that no one had been detained “in connection with the assassination” of Hadi.

Hadi, 32, the spokesperson for the Inqilab Moncho and a prominent youth leader, was shot in the head by masked assailants on December 12 during an election rally in Dhaka. He succumbed to his injuries on December 18 at a hospital in Singapore, where he had been flown for advanced treatment. His killing triggered renewed violence across Bangladesh ahead of the general election scheduled for February 12, which Hadi had intended to contest.

The Daily Star, a leading English-language daily in Bangladesh, on Sunday quoted DMP additional commissioner S.N. Nazrul Islam as saying: “According to our information, the suspects (in Hadi’s murder) entered India via the Haluaghat border. After crossing, they were initially received by an individual named Purti. Later, a taxi driver named Sami transported them to Tura city in Meghalaya.”

The report further quoted Islam as saying that the police had “received informal reports suggesting the two individuals who assisted the fugitives, Purti and Sami, have since been detained by authorities in India”. It added that the Bangladesh government was “maintaining communication with Indian authorities through both formal and informal channels to ensure their (the two suspects’) arrest and extradition”.

However, The Telegraph reported that officials in Meghalaya categorically denied any such detentions. BSF sources in the state, which shares a 443km-long border with Bangladesh, said the force was on high alert because of the unrest in the neighbouring country, with measures in place to prevent any illegal cross-border movement.

The South Garo Hills and West Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya border Bangladesh’s Mymensingh and Sherpur districts respectively. The distance between Baghmara, the headquarters of South Garo Hills, and Tura, the headquarters of West Garo Hills, is around 113km.

Meanwhile, the Inqilab Moncho carried out widespread blockades across Bangladesh on Sunday, demanding justice for Hadi. The DMP said on Saturday that 10 people had been arrested so far in connection with the murder.

Separately, Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is in an “extremely critical” condition, her personal physician, Dr A.Z.M. Zahid, said shortly after midnight on Saturday.

(With inputs from The Telegraph)