Mohammad Arifuzzaman, a former assistant commissioner of Bangladesh police, was apprehended on Saturday night while attempting to cross into India through the Hakimpur check post in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas district. He was presented before the Basirhat Sub-Divisional Court on Sunday and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
Sources from the Border Security Force (BSF) said Arifuzzaman tried to exploit adverse weather conditions to sneak into India but was intercepted by personnel of the 143rd Battalion of the South Bengal Frontier.
“Arifuzzaman had been hiding in Bangladesh’s Satkhira district for several months following political upheavals in the country. He was on the run after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who left Bangladesh on August 5 last year and took refuge in India,” a police officer involved in the interrogation said.
After Hasina’s departure, Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus assumed charge of the Bangladesh government, instituting sweeping administrative and political changes. Several senior officials and Hasina loyalists went into hiding, with Arifuzzaman, who had been in charge of Rangpur Metropolitan Police during last year’s July mass protests, among them.
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Following his arrest, BSF personnel handed Arifuzzaman over to Swarupnagar police for further investigation. Documents recovered from him have been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which has briefed the Bangladesh High Commission on the matter.
Arifuzzaman remained in Swarupnagar police custody on Saturday night before being produced in court the following day.
“This is an internal matter of the two countries. So I will not comment further,” Basirhat district Superintendent of Police Hossain Mehdi Rahman said.
Intelligence sources confirmed that both Indian and Bangladeshi High Commissions have exchanged information regarding the arrest. Preliminary assessments suggest Arifuzzaman had been seeking refuge in the border region before his failed attempt to enter India.
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