Indian intelligence agencies reportedly handed over to Bangladesh a key conspirator convicted in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, claims NDTV.
In February, India had handed over an absconding assassin — Abdul Majid, 73, who used to be a captain in the Army — to Bangladesh. Majid was executed on April 12.
A second conspirator, Risaldar Moslehuddin, was handed over Monday evening to Bangladesh at an undisclosed land border crossing, reported NDTV on Tuesday.
Moslehuddin is believed to be one of the conspirators who shot and killed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangabandhu and most members of his family were brutally gunned down in their home in Dhaka on August 15, 1975.
Both assassins were reportedly living in West Bengal for over two decades. Abdul Majid was picked up from near his home in south Kolkata late February. Moslehuddin was detained in Bongaon, some 70 km away.
Abdul Majid had been passing himself off as a teacher while Moslehuddin ran a small herbal medicine shop. According to easternlinks.com, a news portal that broke the story, Majid revealed Moslehuddin's whereabouts before he was hanged.
Both are among at least a dozen others who were convicted of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by the Bangladesh Supreme Court in 2009. Five of the convicted men were executed in 2010. At least four convicts are still at large.
The reported intelligence operation to track Moslehuddin was conducted under deep cover by top agencies and even the West Bengal police was unaware of the operation, sources say.
When initial reports about the operation emerged along with photos and videos of the suspect, there was a lot of confusion because some sources claimed the man in the photo -- who was allegedly Moslehuddin -- had died a few years ago.
According to some reports, Bangladesh used highly sophisticated facial recognition technology to confirm that the man being handed over was indeed the fugitive.
Official confirmation of the operation is awaited both in India and Bangladesh.
