Staff Reporter:
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has sent to jail a former police officer over his alleged direct involvement in the abduction of Sukharanjan Bali, a key witness for late Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee in a war crimes trial against him.
Investigation has confirmed that former assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Fazlur Rahman was directly involved in the enforced disappearance of Sukharanjan Bali, a member from the Hindu community of Pirojpur, in November 2012, said Shafiqul Islam, additional commissioner of the Detective Branch at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
Late on Thursday, a team of DB arrested Fazlur Rahman from his residence in the capital’s Badda area, after receiving an order in this regard from the ICT, Shafiqul Islam said at a press conference held at the DMP Media Centre on Friday.
Fazlur was later produced before a Dhaka court, which ordered that he be sent to jail.
In late 2012, Sukharanjan Bali, originally a prosecution witness against Sayedee, decided that he will not give “false testimony” against the Jamaat leader to satisfy the demands of the then Awami League government.
Rather, he chose to testify in favour of Sayedee at ICT.
On 5 November 2012, he reached the High Court premises on a car to fulfill his wish. However, as soon as he went out of the car, a team of plainclothes policemen from DB abducted him.
Fazlur Rahman, then a member of DB, and his team were directly involved in the process.
Fazlur slapped Sukharanjan Bali on the face, grabbed his collar, and pushed him into a DB vehicle, before driving off.
Sukharanjan Bali was later found in an Indian jail, where he was being held on charges of illegal border trespassing. He was jailed in India for five years on false charges, and also tortured, Sukharanjan alleged.
Sukharanjan Bali claimed that in reality, Bangladeshi security personnel forcibly pushed him through Indian border as he had refused to give “false testimony” in the Sayedee case.
On 21 August 2025, he filed a complaint with ICT alleging enforced disappearance, torture, and illegal imprisonment in India under the directives and direct involvement of 32 individuals including then prime minister Sheikh Hasina and chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.
The inhumane treatment was inflicted on him after he had refused to give “false testimony” in a “politically motivated case,” he claimed in the formal complaint.
