A senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer had claimed that two prime suspects in the murder case had entered Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region “with the help of local associates”.
The Border Security Force (BSF) in Meghalaya on Sunday rejected claims made by Bangladesh Police that the killers of Inquilab Moncho leader Sharif Osman Hadi had fled to India through the Meghalaya border, saying there was no evidence of any such cross-border movement. BSF officials said the allegations were baseless.
“The claims are unfounded and misleading,” BSF Inspector General in Meghalaya OP Opadhyay said.
Refuting assertions that the suspects crossed over from the Haluaghat sector, he added, “There is no evidence to suggest that any individual crossed the international border from the Haluaghat sector into Meghalaya. The BSF has neither detected nor received any report of such an incident”.
Earlier in the day, a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer had claimed that two prime suspects in the murder case had entered Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region “with the help of local associates”.
He said police had received informal reports suggesting that the two individuals who assisted the suspects have since been detained by Indian authorities.
However, Meghalaya Police also dismissed the claim, saying there was no intelligence input to support it.
A senior police officer in the state said there was “no input or intelligence to corroborate” the presence of the suspects in the Garo Hills.
He added that local police units had not detected any suspicious movement and that coordination with central agencies was continuing.
BSF officials said forces deployed along the international border remain on high alert, particularly in view of the unrest and volatile situation in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The force reiterated that the border in the sector is under constant surveillance and that any attempt at illegal cross-border movement would be promptly detected and dealt with.
The Garo Hills region falls under Meghalaya’s western sector, which shares an international border with Bangladesh and is guarded by the BSF.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer also said that the Bangladesh government was in touch with India to secure the return of the fugitives, adding that communication was underway through both formal and informal channels for their arrest and extradition.
WHO WAS SHARIF OSMAN HADI?
Sharif Osman Hadi was a high-profile political figure in Bangladesh and a vocal critic of both India and the Awami League. He rose to prominence during last year’s violent student-led protests, widely referred to as the July Uprising, which culminated in the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
In the aftermath of the movement, Hadi launched a new political platform, Inqilab Mancha, and had begun preparations to contest the parliamentary elections scheduled for February.
He was later airlifted to Singapore for advanced medical treatment but succumbed to his injuries six days later. His death sparked large-scale unrest across Dhaka and other parts of the country.
