Police in India on Saturday arrested three people for illegally entering the country; but without having prior knowledge that one of the arrestees was Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the Narayanganj seven-murder case.
Nur, along with the two other arrestees - Asif and Shamim – were placed on an eight-day remand each after police had produced them before court and petitioned for a four-day remand.
Edwin Lepcha, the Second Judicial Magistrate of the North 24 Parganas District Court in Barasat, gave the order.
The three were taken to the court around 11am, according to BBC Bangla. They were charged with intruding into India and staying there illegally.
Kolkata police on Saturday night arrested the three from an apartment on the fifth floor of Indraprastha apartment complex owned by one Seema Singh who lives in Mumbai.
They were under watch in India.
Confirming the arrest, the Bidhannagar police commissioner said officer-in-charge of Baguihati police station Debbrata Ojha led the arrest drive.
Narayanganj Police Superintendent Khandakar Mohid Uddin also confirmed yesterday that the three had been arrested and produced before court.
“National Investigation Unit and Anti-Terrorism Unit conducted the arrest operation. Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Police Commissioner of Kolkata confirmed us,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.
Mohid said: “Interpol had issued red notice against Nur Hossain and the authorities concerned as well as Kolkata Police were aware of that.”
“During the arrest, police seized the arrestees’ mobile phones but found no arms with them. As the three had no legal documents, they were arrested and produced before court,” he added.
However, India is yet to inform Bangladesh officially about the arrests. Confirming this, Home Secretary CKQ Mustaq Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune last night that his ministry had told the Foreign Ministry and police to look into the matter.
The West Bengal government has not yet informed the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata of the arrests either, Deputy High Commissioner Abida Islam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.
“It is a normal practice that the state government informs the Bangladesh mission in Kolkata whenever it arrests somebody who they believe is a Bangladeshi national,” she said.
The authorities provide the mission with names and addresses, which are then sent to both Foreign Ministry and Home Ministry for verification, said Abida.
“But so far we have not received any such notification,” she said at 8:30pm, adding that the Bangladesh mission tried to reach Indian officials but failed because it was a weekly holiday.
Meanwhile, the government in Bangladesh initiated the process to bring Nur and the two back.
“The procedure to bring them back is on,” State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters at his office at the Secretariat yesterday.
He, however, said identities of the three had to be reconfirmed.
“We are examining all options including extradition treaty to bring them back,” Mohid Uddin said, adding: “We earlier sought Interpol’s assistance in arresting Nur.”
A senior Home Ministry official said Bangladesh has not brought back any of its citizens under extradition treaty with India.
According to the extradition treaty between the two countries, the government can make a formal request to the Indian authorities to send Nur back, he said, adding that the process would be much easier.
On January 28 last year, the then home minister MK Alamgir and his Indian counterpart Sushil Shinde signed the extradition treaty. On October 9, the cabinet endorsed it and India also ratified it.
Officials said neither Bangladesh nor India has made any request to each other in the past for bringing or sending back any citizen on behalf of the respective countries.
On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted and their bodies were recovered from Shitalaykha river on April 30.
Nazrul’s wife filed an abduction case against Nur on April 28.
Meanwhile, a lawyer introducing himself as Arun Kumar Debnath talked to an Indian private TV channel and a Bangladeshi satellite channel on the court premises after the court had placed the trio on remand yesterday.
He was not a lawyer in the case but saw the remand forwarding. The video of his interview was uploaded on several websites.
“The forwarding read that the three Bangladeshis were arrested from Indraprastha Complex block A flat number 503 on the fifth floor. Baguihati police had information that three Bangladeshis were hiding in the building and had entered India illegally,” he said.
“The raid was conducted to nab those intruders. During the raid they could not show any valid documents. This is why police arrested them and produced them before court under the 14 Foreign Act,” said the lawyer.
Police found many mobile phones, SIM cards, Indian currencies and Bangladeshi currency in their possessions, he said, adding that no defence lawyer represented them in the court.