Indian agencies have nabbed an octogenerian Muslim man from the border town of Bongaon in West Bengal, saying he has ‘striking resemblance’ to Risaldar Moslehuddin, who had personally shot Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975.
Rahman was killed in a violent coup that led to the massacre of almost the entire family of the founding father of Bangladesh.
The detained man was running a shop of traditional Unani and Ayurvedic medicines for a while.
Also read: Bangladesh begins countdown to ‘Mujib Barsha’
“He looks every bit of what Mosleuddin was. We are waiting for identity confirmation from Bangladesh agencies before we send him back. The lockdown has also created some complications on sending him back, ” said a senior official of a counter-terrorism agency, but he was unwilling to be identified.
India had recently nabbed another Mujib killer ex-captain Majed and sent him back to Bangladesh where he was hanged within two days of his formal arrest in Dhaka.
“This is a gift to our dear friend Sheikh Hasina in the rundown to the centenary of her father Mujibur Rahman. She is keen to bring all the killers of her family to justice and we must do our bit as friends,” a top official in India’s national security architechure told Northeast Now.
But the drill of such operations is exhaustive – after initial spotting, the agencies go through extenstive static and mobile surveillance of the ‘target’, check on his local and Bangladesh and other links (because the Mujib killers have roamed the world and are known for close Pakistan ISI links) and then film the ‘target’.
The pictures are sent back to Bangladesh, where agencies confirm it through check on their records and possibly badgering the relatives.
Once the confirmation is complete, the ‘target’ is detained.
Central agencies are doubly careful with such cases in Bengal because they will face hell locally if a bonafide Indian Muslim is picked up.
The ruling Trinamul Congress has been critical of the NRC process in Assam and would unleash huge protests if an Indian Muslim is picked up and send back to Bangladesh.
Indian agencies, on request from Bangladesh, have been after Moslehuddin and other Mujib killers since Sheikh Hasina’s first term in office (1996-2001).
After ex-captain Mazed was picked up in Calcutta and shown arrested in Dhaka last month, he is said to have provided fresh leads about Moslehuddin’s whereabouts.
Mazed was hanged in Dhaka within two days of his formal arrest.