The main shooter and his accomplice in the killing of Bangladeshi political activist Sharif Osman Bin Hadi have fled to India, Dhaka police said, claiming Indian police arrested two people for allegedly assisting their border crossing.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner SN Nazrul Islam told a news conference that the two Indian nationals who assisted the suspected killers in fleeing and crossing the border were held by police in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya.
Hadi, 32, a political activist known for his anti-India stance who rose to prominence during the 2024 uprising against then-premier Sheikh Hasina, was shot on December 12 and died at a hospital in Singapore on December 18.
Police said the shooter, Faisal Karim Masud, and his accomplice, Alamgir Sheikh, fled to India.
Two Bangladeshi nationals and two Indian nationals, Purti and Sami, assisted them in crossing the border from the Indian side.
Nazrul Islam claimed that the murder of Inqilab Manch (Platform for Revolution) convener Hadi was premeditated.
He said after the shooting, Faisal and Alamgir travelled by car to Mymensingh, a Bangladeshi city on the Indian border.
They were assisted by two Bangladeshi men, Philip Pal and Sanjay, in illegally crossing the border. Philip later took the two to Meghalaya, an Indian state.
Philip, then, police said, took Faisal and Alamgir to a place called Tura in India and handed over the two to Purti, an Indian citizen. They later travelled in a car belonging to a man named Sami.
Dhaka police have arrested 11 people in connection with the Hadi murder case, and the investigation is nearing completion, Nazrul Islam said, adding that the charge sheet will be filed within the next seven to 10 days.
India rejects claims
Police in Meghalaya, however, rejected the claims that the two accused fled to India, saying no arrests had been made.
"No formal or informal communication has been received from the Bangladesh police. None of the accused named in the report has been traced in Garo Hills, and no arrests have been made,” a senior police official told the Hindustan Times newspaper.
Indian Border Security Force (Meghalaya Frontier) Inspector General OP Upadhayay also refuted the claims, saying, “There is no evidence whatsoever of these individuals crossing the international border from the Haluaghat sector into Meghalaya. No such incident has been detected or reported by the BSF," according to the paper.
Protests in Bangladesh
Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, thousands of people under the banner of Inqilab Manch, a student group, blocked the Shahbagh Intersection in Dhaka and continued to protest, demanding the arrest of those behind the killing.
They criticised India for allegedly allowing killers to roam free and letting Hasina and thousands of her Awami League party supporters live there.
Hasina fled India on August 5, 2024, during the height of the mass uprising.
According to the UN, her government's brutal response to the uprising killed about 1400 people and wounded thousands more.
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka convicted Hasina of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death in absentia.
Separately, Foreign Ministry spokesman SM Mahbubul Alam said Dhaka was “deeply concerned about the brutal killings, lynching, arbitrary detentions and disruption of religious ceremonies against various minorities, including Muslims and Christians in India.”
He termed these acts “hate crimes and targeted violence.”
It also rejected an Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson's statement regarding the situation of the minority communities in Bangladesh.
