Hadi murder suspects did not enter India, claim Meghalaya Police and BSF

Indian authorities have rejected claims that two key suspects in the murder of Inkilab Mancha leader Sharif Osman Hadi fled from Bangladesh into India following the killing.

On Sunday, December 28, Bangladesh Police Additional Commissioner Crime and Operations S N Md Nazrul Islam said the two main suspects involved in the murder had escaped to India. However, India’s Meghalaya Police and the Border Security Force BSF denied receiving any such information.

The Hindustan Times, quoting senior security officials on Sunday, December 28, reported that such claims were creating confusion.

BSF Meghalaya Frontier Inspector General O P Upadhyay said there was no evidence that the suspects crossed the international border into Meghalaya through the Haluaghat sector. He added that no such incident had been detected or reported by the BSF, describing the claims as baseless and misleading.

A senior official at Meghalaya Police headquarters told the Indian daily that no formal or informal communication had been received from Bangladesh Police on the matter. The official said none of the accused named in the reports had been traced in the Garo Hills and no arrests had been made.

According to the report, Indian officials stressed that although cooperation with Dhaka Police was continuing, there was currently no evidence that the suspects were in Meghalaya.

Earlier, speaking at a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre, Nazrul Islam said the killing was premeditated and that Faisal, along with another accomplice, had fled to India after crossing the Mymensingh border. He said a total of 11 people had been arrested in connection with the case, six of whom had given confessional statements. A charge sheet is expected to be submitted within seven to eight days.

Sharif Osman Hadi was shot on December 12 at around 2.20 pm on Box Culvert Road in the Paltan area. Faisal Karim and an unidentified accomplice, who arrived on a motorcycle, opened fire on Sharif while moving. He was first taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and later to Evercare Hospital. As his condition deteriorated, he was flown to Singapore on December 15, where he died at 9.45 pm on December 18.

Following the attack, Inkilab Mancha member secretary Abdullah Al Jaber filed a case of attempted murder with Paltan police station on December 14. After Hadi’s death, a Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court on December 20 ordered the addition of Section 302 of the Penal Code, murder, to the case.