Ex-ASP held over Sukharanjan Bali's 2012 'disappearance'

A former assistant superintendent of police (ASP) has been arrested over the alleged enforced disappearance of Sukharanjan Bali, a witness who went missing after appearing to testify in favour of war crimes convict Delwar Hossain Sayedee before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested former ASP Fazlur Rahman from a residence in the capital on Thursday night (July 2), DB Additional Commissioner (Detective) Shafiqul Islam confirmed.

According to sources concerned, Bali, a resident of Pirojpur, went missing from the tribunal premises on November 5, 2012, after arriving to testify for Sayedee. Law enforcement agencies had claimed at the time that he was later found in a border area, but his family and several human rights organisations alleged he was abducted from the tribunal grounds itself.

Bali subsequently filed a complaint with the ICT prosecutor on August 21, 2025, alleging that he was subjected to enforced disappearance and torture for initially refusing to testify against Sayedee, the Jamaat-e-Islami leader convicted of war crimes, and later testifying in his favour.

The DB arrested former ASP Rahman as part of the investigation into that complaint. Investigators said the probe is ongoing.