India arrests another suspect in Bangladesh uprising leader's killing

KOLKATA, India: Indian police said Sunday they had arrested a Bangladeshi man for allegedly helping two fellow nationals, accused of murdering a popular student leader in Dhaka, enter India illegally.

Sharif Osman Hadi, a vocal India critic who took part in Bangladesh’s 2024 mass uprising, was shot by masked assailants in Dhaka on December 12 and later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Singapore.

West Bengal police named Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Hossain as the prime suspects in the killing and said they allegedly fled Bangladesh through the Haluaghat border with India shortly after Hadi’s attack. India arrested the pair on March 8 and they remain in police custody.

On Sunday, West Bengal’s Special Task Force Superintendent Indrajit Sarkar told AFP that Philip Sangma had been arrested on suspicion of helping Masud and Hossain enter the state of West Bengal through its porous border.

Sangma was “held on Saturday for facilitating the illegal entry of the two prime suspects in the murder of Bangladeshi youth activist (Sharif Osman) Hadi,” Sarkar said, adding that he appeared in a district court on Saturday before being remanded to police custody for a week.

Hadi’s death set off violent protests in Bangladesh, with angry mobs torching several buildings including two major newspapers deemed to favour India, as well as a prominent cultural institution.

The killing further strained ties between India and Bangladesh that had frayed since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the pro-democracy uprising and sought refuge in India.

India’s foreign ministry has said it rejects “false narratives” about New Delhi’s involvement in Hadi’s killing.

In a sign of a potential thaw, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Bangladesh Nationalist Party for winning the first parliamentary elections since Hasina’s exit.