Indian law enforcers have arrested a fugitive Bangladeshi national, who fled India after being sentenced to death in a kidnapping, robbery and murder case a decade ago, from New Delhi.
New Delhi police said on Saturday that they arrested the fugitive convict, Mausam Ali alias Sarbar, a country-made pistol and two cartridges from Khanpur locality of the Indian capital, reports Hindustan Times.
“He is reportedly carrying a reward of Tk 100,000 on his arrest in Bangladesh,” Indian police said.
The 40-year-old man had been living in India illegally after entering the country in 2010.
Sharing details of the kidnapping and murder case, an Indian police official said that in 2005, Ali along with his associates – Bacchu, Monir, Gaffar and Zakir – kidnapped a person named Jahidul Islam from his mobile shop in Madhya Nalbunia Bazar in Bangladesh.
They murdered him after robbing him of cash and other valuables. Islam’s mutilated body was found in a field, a day after his murder. All the alleged accused were later arrested by the police.
In 2010, all the accused were granted bail in the case, but the trial continued.
The same year, Ali fled and entered India illegally along with an agent named Sarbar, and his wife. Sarbar lived in Delhi’s Seemapuri and worked as a scrap dealer. All three lived together in Seemapuri for some time.
A month later, Sarbar returned to Bangladesh and never returned. Ali started living with Sarbar’s wife like a married couple. They soon moved to Bengaluru, where Ali started a scrap dealing business, Indian police said.
“Since Ali had taken the identity of Sarbar and was living with his wife, we strongly suspect that they may have killed Sarbar. Ali, however, has denied this. We will inform Bangalore police about Sarbar’s wife and request them to interrogate her regarding her husband’s whereabouts and why Ali was using Sarbar’s name and IDs,” a police official said.
In 2013, the concerned court in Bangladesh awarded the death sentence to Ali, while the other four men were acquitted in the case. However, Ali could not be arrested again as he had fled to India in 2010 and never returned.
Ali was arrested from Delhi’s Khanpur area on Saturday after an informer told the crime branch team that a man wanted in Bangladesh in a kidnapping, robbery and murder case of 2005 was spotted there. The team put Ali’s cellphone on surveillance.
“We caught Ali with a pistol and two bullets from Khanpur after his arrival in the city. He has been booked under the Arms Act and Foreigners Act. The Bangladesh High Commission has been informed about his arrest,” Indian police said.