3rd suspect arrested in India
Indian authorities have arrested Philip Sangma, a suspected border broker accused of helping the main suspects in the murder of Inquilab Moncho convener Shaheed Sharif Osman Bin Hadi escape from Bangladesh, diplomatic sources said.
Sangma was detained on Saturday near Shantipur in Nadia district of West Bengal, according to diplomatic officials in Kolkata. The West Bengal Police formally informed the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata about the arrest.
Sangma, a resident of Haluaghat in Mymensingh district, is believed to have facilitated the illegal border crossing of the two primary suspects in the high-profile killing.
Earlier, late last Saturday night, Indian police arrested the two main accused in the Osman Hadi murder case—Faisal Karim Masud and his associate Alamgir Hossain—in an operation in Bongaon, a border area of West Bengal adjacent to Bangladesh.
The arrests were confirmed in a statement issued by the Special Task Force of the West Bengal Police. Osman Hadi, a leading figure in the Inquilab Moncho, was shot on December 12 last year shortly after Friday prayers while travelling in a rickshaw along Kalvert Road in Dhaka’s Purana Paltan area.
According to investigators, assailants shot him in the head before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.
Severely injured, Hadi was later flown to Singapore for advanced medical treatment, where he died six days later.
Police later identified Faisal Karim, a former leader of a banned student organisation, and Alamgir Hossain as the gunmen behind the attack. However, the two initially managed to evade arrest.
Investigators say that immediately after the shooting, Faisal and Alamgir fled Bangladesh through the Haluaghat border in Mymensingh on the same day.
According to police officials, the cross-border escape had been arranged in advance by Taizul Islam Chowdhury, also known as Bappi, a leader of the banned organisation Jubo League.
Brokers operating in the border area allegedly helped the suspects cross into India in exchange for money.
Philip Sangma, whose home is in Bhutiapara village near the Haluaghat border, is believed to be one of the brokers involved in illegal border crossings in the area.
Earlier police operations had led to the arrest of two associates of Sangma. During interrogation, investigators learned that after assisting Faisal and Alamgir across the border, the suspects’ associates realised through television news reports that the pair were linked to a major crime in Dhaka. They then warned Sangma, prompting him to go into hiding.
With Sangma’s arrest, a total of three individuals linked to the Osman Hadi murder case have now been detained in India.
Law enforcement agencies said the process to extradite Faisal Karim and Alamgir Hossain—who were arrested earlier—has already begun.
Inside Bangladesh, authorities have so far arrested 12 suspects in connection with the killing. All of them have been named in the charge sheet, while two other accused, including Taizul Islam Chowdhury, remain at large.
On January 7, the Detective Branch of police submitted a charge sheet against 17 individuals in the case. However, the court later ordered further investigation after Abdullah Al Jaber, the member secretary of Inquilab Moncho and the complainant in the case, raised objections to the report.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is now conducting the renewed investigation into the murder.
