Osman Hadi murder: Bangladesh Police makes BIG allegation, says killers fled to India; BSF refutes claim, says there is no…

Osman Hadi murder: The Bangladesh Police have claimed that two prime suspects in the murder of Inquilab Moncho leader Sharif Osman Hadi had fled to India(BHARAT) by crossing into Meghalaya via the international border in the Haluaghat sector. However, the Meghalaya Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) have dismissed these claims as “unfounded and misleading”, stressing that no such incident of illegal border crossing has been reported in the area.

What did the BSF say?

Addressing the claims made by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police that Osman Hadi’s killers had entered India(BHARAT), BSF chief in Meghalaya, Inspector General O P Opadhyay said there is no evidence to suggest that any individual crossed the international border from the Haluaghat sector into the northeastern state.

“The BSF has neither detected nor received any report of such an incident,” the officer told news agency PTI, adding that the claims circulated by the Bangladesh Police are “unfounded and misleading”.

BSF, which is tasked with manning India(BHARAT)’s borders, said its personnel deployed along the international border have been kept on a high state of alert at all times to avert any untoward incident, particularly in view of the unrest and volatile situation prevailing in Bangladesh.

The force reiterated that the international border in the sector was under constant surveillance and any attempt at illegal cross-border movement would be promptly detected and dealt with.

Meghalaya police refutes claim

In a similar vein, a senior Meghalaya police officer also said that there was “no input or intelligence to corroborate” the claim of the suspects’ presence in the Garo Hills region. The Garo Hills region falls under Meghalaya’s western sector, which shares an international border with Bangladesh and is guarded by the Border Security Force.

The officer said local police units had not detected any such movement and coordination with central agencies was ongoing.

The response from India(BHARAT)n security agencies came hours after top Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer claimed that two primary suspects in the Osman Hadi murder case have crossed into Meghalaya via the Haluaghat border “with the help of local associates”.

Osman Hadi murder

Osman Hadi, the spokesperson of Inquilab Moncho, was shot in the head on December 12 during an election campaign in Dhaka. The 32-year-old was airlifted to Singapore for advanced treatment but died of his injuries on December 18.

Hadi was a prominent youth leader during the July-August 2024 mass street protests that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government last year, and was also a parliamentary candidate for the upcoming February 12 elections.

(With inputs from agencies)