The Border Security Force rejected claims by the Bangladesh Police that two suspects in the killing of activist Sharif Osman Hadi had fled to India through the Meghalaya border, ANI reported on Monday.

On Sunday, Dhaka police Additional Commissioner SN Nazrul Islam claimed that the two suspects, Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh, had crossed into Meghalaya through the Haluaghat border area with the help of Indian residents, The Daily Star reported.

He claimed the men were received by a person identified as Purti and later taken by a taxi driver, Sami, to Tura in Meghalaya.

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Islam also said that the two Indian residents who assisted the suspects were in the custody of the Indian authorities and that Bangladesh was in touch with India.

However, the Border Security Force’s chief in Meghalaya, Inspector General OP Upadhyay, on Monday said that “the claims are completely false, fabricated, and misleading, and there is no evidence to support them”.

Upadhyay said the Meghalaya Police had not apprehended the individuals and that reports in the Bangladeshi media were incorrect.

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“There has been no such cross-border movement from the Meghalaya sector, and even the Bangladesh Border Guard has not reported any such incident,” Upadhyay told ANI.

“The BGB is a highly professional force,” Upadhyay added. “The claim that the individuals entered India from a location nearly 300 km from Dhaka, despite extensive CCTV surveillance and checkpoints in Bangladesh, is highly implausible.”

Hadi was shot on December 12 while he was leaving a mosque in Dhaka. He died on December 18 at a hospital in Singapore, where he had been flown for treatment.

Hadi was a prominent leader in the 2024 student protest that led to the ouster of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government. His death led to unrest in parts of Bangladesh, including incidents of violence against minority communities.