West Bengal police have arrested a Bangladeshi national on charges of assisting two accused, including prime suspect Faisal Karim Masud, in the murder of Inqilab Mancha spokesperson Sharif Osman bin Hadi, to enter India illegally.
The arrestee has been identified as Philiph Sangma.
West Bengal Police's Special Task Force (STF) said Philiph Sangma was apprehended from an area adjacent to the Shantipur Bypass in the early hours of Saturday, March 14, and named in a case filed under a specific section.
Earlier on March 8, Faisal Karim Masud, the prime accused in the murder of Osman bin Hadi, and another Bangladeshi named Alamgir Hossain, were arrested along Bangao border in West Bengal.
At that time, the STF said the police learned that two Bangladeshi nationals had intruded into India after committing serious crimes like murder, and were trying to return to Bangladesh through the Bangaon border.
Then, they conducted an operation along the Bangaon border area in the early hours of today and arrested the duo – one is Faisal Karim Masud and the other Alamgir Hossain.
The task force also said it was learned in initial interrogation that Rahul alias Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Hossain fled Bangladesh after killing Osman Hadi. They entered India through the Meghalaya border. After staying in various places in the country, they finally came to West Bengal to return to Bangladesh.
Osman Hadi, a prominent figure of the July Mass Uprising 2024, was shot in the head on December 12 while travelling on a rickshaw on Box Culvert Road in Dhaka's Bijaynagar area.
Later, he was airlifted to Singapore for advanced treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries on the night of December 18.
On December 20, he was laid to rest beside the grave of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam at Dhaka University.
DD/MSU