Despite assertions by Home Minister P Chidambaram that the West Bengal government is looking for two former Bangladeshi Army officers convicted for killing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, West Bengal Intelligence officers say they are unsure of the whereabouts of Captain Abdul Majed and Risaldar Moslehuddin.

Dhaka believes that the fugitive officers are hiding in India and has been asking New Delhi to look for them.

According to a top Intelligence officer operating mainly in West Bengal, Captain Abdul Mazed Khan may be living in north Bengal closer to Siliguri.

“We have some inputs about Captain Mazed Khan and in all probability he is in north Bengal. There is a possibility of his staying in and around Siliguri,” he said.

“Definitely (the Home Minister) has more information than I do,” he said, asked if Mr Chidambaram is correct in saying that the officers are in West Bengal. “There’re some practical issues in solving the case,” the officer admitted. “The incident happened 36 years before and those involved are older now. We know that one of them will be more than 80 years, which means the appearance would have changed.”

“Since we don’t have their recent photographs, it would be highly impossible to find them if they are staying in this country under a fake name or are moving out with a fake passport.”

He said Siliguri is the likely hide-out for them since it would be easier to sneak into either Nepal or Bhutan from there. They have learnt about it from some sources and are yet to verify the claim.

While there is at least  some sketchy information about Mazeed, Risaldar Moslehuddin seems totally out of the Intelligence scanner since 1999.

Top Intelligence sources said Moslehuddin was seen in Tripura in 1980 and in a remote village of Murshidabad district in 1999. 

“He has either left the country or is not alive,” the source said. Sources in Bangladesh Intelligence Agency, however, insist that the duo are in India and are asking New Delhi to hand them over. They believe the officers are living in Murshidabad district.

Iconic leader

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the iconic leader of the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh and the nation’s first President, was assassinated together with many members of his family on August 15, 1975, by disgruntled officers of the country’s armed forces.

Several decades later, Bangladesh’s courts found 12 former army officials guilty of killing the Bangabandhu and sentenced them to death. Five of the convicted killers—Major (Rtd) Bazlul Huda, Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd) Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major (Rtd) A K M Mohiuddin Ahmed, Colonel (Rtd) Syed Faruque Rahman and Colonel (Rtd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khanwere—were executed in Dhaka on January 28, 2010.

Living abroad

According to Bangladesh intelligence report, four of the convicted officers are living abroad. Khandakar Abdur Rashid is in Libya, Nur Chowdhury in Canada, Rasheed Chowdhury in the UK and Sariful Haque Chowdhury in Kenya. When asked about the duo, ADG (IB) Banibrata Basu said: “Right now I don’t have any information about them. We will work with the Central agency to find them”.