Bangladesh: Two suspects in Hadi murder fled to India, say Dhaka police

More than two weeks after Bangladeshi political activist and founder of the Inqilab Moncho platform, Sharif Osman Hadi, was fatally shot in Dhaka, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Sunday (December 28) said two primary suspects in the murder have crossed the border to take shelter in India, Bangladesh’s The Daily Star reported.

Speaking at a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre in the Bangladeshi capital, Additional Commissioner SN Nazrul confirmed that the two suspects – Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh – fled to India’s Meghalaya through the Haluaghat border in Mymensingh in northern Bangladesh with the aid of local associates.

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He said according to the information they had, the duo were received in India by an individual named Purti. They were later taken to the Tura city of Meghalaya by a taxi driver named Sami, the report added.

Nazrul also said that the Bangladeshi police have known through informal sources that both Purti and Sami were detained by the Indian authorities. Official confirmation was yet to be received. The DMP official said the Bangladeshi authorities were in touch with their Indian counterparts through both formal and informal channels to ensure the fugitives were arrested and extradited to Bangladesh.

Hadi shot in head in Dhaka

The 31-year-old Hadi, who died in a hospital in Singapore on December 18 after getting shot in the head by two identified masked assailants who approached his e-rickshaw in a motorcycle on December 12, was a staunch critic of India and the Awami League of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. He was one of the leaders of the violent street protests that Bangladesh witnessed in mid-2024, called the July Revolution, which changed the course of the country’s politics.

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Hadi later formed Inqilab Moncho and was preparing to contest the upcoming national elections scheduled for February 2026.

Hadi assassination triggers violence

The assassination of Hadi resulted in widespread violence in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh, with an angry mob vandalising and setting fire to the offices of major newspapers such as The Daily Star and Pratham Alo. Renowned cultural organisations such as Udichi Shilpigoshthi and Chhayanat were also brutally attacked. Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in Dhaka for his funeral after Hadi's mortal remains were brought back to Bangladesh.

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On the same day, a Hindu factory worker named Dipu Chandra Das was violently lynched and set on fire in Mymensingh, further fuelling the situation and triggering protests also in India.