Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami on Tuesday said Bangladeshi fugitive businessman Prashanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder was detained in West Bengal on the basis of information provided by the Bangladesh authorities.
“This is your (Bangladesh) government that shared information with (Indian) counterpart agencies, the agencies examined information to cut through (to detain Halder),” he told the media after a meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen.
The ambassador said Halder’s arrest was part of normal cooperation between the two governments as Bangladesh and India have a legal assistance treaty.
“Now there is a legal process that has to be followed . . . it’s a process, nothing outside the ordinary in that sense, it is normal focal (that) India and Bangladesh to cooperate against organized crime of criminal,” he said.
Asked when Halder might be extradited, Doraiswami said it involves a legal procedure and “you know it’s not like exchanging Christmas cards”.
He added: “So let that happen slowly.”
The high commissioner said New Delhi was working with Dhaka regarding the issue while the information related to Halder came from Bangladesh.
Foreign Secretary Masud later told the media that Dhaka is expecting all kinds of cooperation from India to bring back PK Halder here for trying him.
“During our meeting, I raised the issue of PK Halder while he (Indian high commissioner) assured me of providing all kinds of cooperation regarding the issue,” he said.
The foreign secretary said Halder would be sent back here after completion of legal procedure currently ongoing in India. “There is no reason that he won’t be sent back,” he added.
He said Dhaka would request to send back Halder through diplomatic channels and the home ministry has an important role to play on the issue.
“We all are on the same page as we won’t exempt any criminal,” Masud said.
Bangladesh and India have an extradition treaty for the exchange of fugitive criminals.
On Monday, foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said PK Halder would be brought back following a set of procedures that is practiced between Bangladesh and India.
He said Dhaka will do whatever it needs to do to put Halder behind bars but added that the procedure of bringing him back will not be a challenge as currently Dhaka and New Delhi are enjoying the "golden chapter" of their bilateral relations.
Halder, along with five others, was detained from Ashoknagar in West Bengal of India on Saturday morning.
India's economic intelligence agency Directorate of Enforcement (ED) carried out search operations at various residential buildings linked to Halder's associates in Ashoknagar of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal in connection with a financial fraud of multi-million Taka, diplomatic sources said.
In January 2021, Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed five cases against 33 people, including PK Halder, for allegedly laundering over Tk350 crore of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFSL).