India has confirmed the arrest of a Bangladeshi multiple-murder suspect in Kolkata, a minister said here today amid efforts to extradite him.
"They (India) have given us the information in a note verbale," junior minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters.
India's confirmation came officially a day after state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said Dhaka awaited New Delhi response as it sent an official request seeking details on the current status of the fugitive Bangladeshi, Nur Hossain.
Hossain is wanted in Bangladesh for killing seven people in suburban Narayanganj about two months ago.
Kamal said that the Indian government also sought details about Hossain.
"The (Bangladesh) government is continuing efforts to bring Nur Hossain home," said Kamal, who earlier expressed his hope that his repatriation would be an easy process as the two countries inked an extradition treaty to exchange wanted criminals hiding in each other's soil.
Dhaka and New Delhi last year inked the extradition treaty and Hossain could be the first Bangladeshi to be deported since the signing of the pact, home ministry officials said.
Hossain, a local leader of ruling Awami League, was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of West Bengal Police along with three other accomplices as he fled to Kolkata to evade justice in home.
The seven people were kidnapped by assailants from the suburban river port city on April 27 and their nearly decomposed bodies were retrieved from the Shitalakya River on May 1.
The incident had sparked a massive public outcry as the families of the victims alleged that several personnel of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were involved in the murders.
It had embarrassed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government and prompted it to immediately sack two army and navy officers.
In a related development today, sacked and detained army Lieutenant Colonel Tareque Sayeed Mohammad admitted before a Narayanganj court his role in the abduction and killing of the seven people as gave a confessional statement after weeks of interrogation in police custody.
