DHAKA: Bangladesh police on Sunday said the alleged killers of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi had fled to India, in comments likely to further strain relations with its neighbor.
Hadi, a vocal India critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising, was shot by masked assailants in Dhaka earlier this month and later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Singapore.
His death set off violent protests with angry mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favor India as well as a prominent cultural institution.
With protests being held across the country almost daily, pressure has been growing on Bangladesh’s interim government to arrest the killers of Hadi, who was set to contest general elections in February next year.
“The killing was premeditated. Those behind it have been identified,” SN Nazrul Islam, a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer, said at a news conference.
