One of Bangladesh’s most wanted criminals Nur Hossain was released on Thursday from a jail in Kolkata. He is likely to be deported to Bangladesh to face trial in connection with the killing of seven people in 2014. This comes a day after Dhaka handed over top ULFA leader Anup Chetia to India.
Hossain was released from Dum Dum central jail on Thursday evening and will be sent back to Bangladesh soon, a senior government official said.
The release of Hossain comes after a court in Kolkata ordered that he be deported to Bangladesh by December 15.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was quoted in local media reports there as saying that “we will bring him back when the government of that country tells us he has been freed...we will receive him at the border just the way we left Anup Chetia”.
He, however, said this should not be seen as a quid pro co and “Chetia had been handed over to India as per his own wish”.
The seven massacre victims were first kidnapped by assailants from river port city of Narayanganj on April 27, 2014 and their nearly decomposed bodies were retrieved from the Shitalakya river five days later.
The incident had sparked a massive public outcry in Bangladesh as the families of the victims alleged several personnel of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were involved in the murders.
It had embarrassed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government because Hossain is a local Awami League leader and prompted it to immediately sack two army and navy officers.
Hossain and two other Bangladeshi nationals were arrested on June 15 in Kolkata for not having valid documents for entering India.
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