A day after Ulfa leader Anup Chetia was handed over to the Indian government, Nur Hossain, the prime accused of Narayanganj seven-murder case, has been brought back from India.
A heavily-guarded Nur Hossain was brought across the border in a microbus, while the vehicle soon left for Narayanganj.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, BGB Director General Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said Nur was handed over to Maj Liakat Ali, a deputy commander of BGB 26 Battalion, at 11:32pm. The microbus carrying Nur then left the Benapole land port area at 11:40pm, he added.
Nur was escorted by RAB forces and a team from Narayanganj police, the BGB chief said.
It is the first time India sent a Bangladeshi national on trial after an extradition treaty was signed between the two countries in 2013.
A source in the Benapole port police station told the Dhaka Tribune that a five-member team including the station’s Officer-in-Charge Apurba Hasan and the local Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abdus Salam had gone to India’s Petrapole border to receive Nur Hossain. Indian BSF 40 Battalion Commander SK Shukla was also present during the handover.
The confirmation that Nur Hossain will be repatriated came yesterday evening when Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the main suspect of the Narayanganj murders will be brought back from India later in the night.
Narayanganj Police Superintendent Dr Khandakar Mohiuddin told journalists yesterday that Nur Hossain was being brought straight back to Narayanganj as the case against him was under trial in a Narayanganj court.
He said Nur Hossain would be produced before the court after he arrives in Narayanganj.
The process of extraditing Nur Hossain gained pace after Anup Chetia, the general secretary of Indian separatist group United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), was handed over to Indian officials on Wednesday.
Nur, who faces several murder charges, allegedly financed some RAB officials for the abduction and murder of seven of his rivals.
On April 27, Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted. Later, their bodies were recovered from Shitalaykha river on April 30. Nazrul’s wife filed an abduction case against Nur and several others on April 28.
The government later arrested the suspected RAB officials, but Nur fled to India, allegedly with the help of local MP Shamim Osman.
On June 15, the West Bengal police arrested Nur with some of his accomplices from Kolkata. He has been in Indian custody since then.
The repatriation of Nur Hossain was made possible after additional chief judicial magistrate of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, Sandipan Chakrabarty, on October 16 ordered Nur Hossain’s quick repatriation.
On August 20, the Indian government had applied to a court in West Bengal to remove the allegation of illegal entrance in India.