STF arrests Bangla nat’l who helped Hadi killers enter India
Times of India | 15 March 2026
Kolkata: Bengal Police's Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday arrested a Bangladeshi national accused of helping two prime suspects in the murder of Bangladeshi youth activist Sharif Osman Hadi illegally cross into India after the Dec 12 fatal attack in Dhaka.
Philip Sangma was picked up from an area near Shantipur Bypass in Nadia following specific intelligence inputs. Investigators alleged that Sangma acted as a border tout and had facilitated the illegal entry of Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Hossain, who were arrested from Bongaon last Sunday. They are the prime suspects in Hadi's murder.
Police said Sangma's role came to light during the interrogation of Masud and Hossain. The duo allegedly revealed that Sangma helped them cross the Indo-Bangladesh border through the Haluaghat (Bangladesh)–Dalupara (Meghalaya) sector before they travelled across India while trying to evade arrest.
"During initial interrogation, Sangma admitted that he operates as a border tout and facilitates illegal migrants to cross the border through the Haluaghat–Dalupara route in exchange for money," a senior officer said.
Police said Sangma also confessed to arranging the entry of Masud and Hossain into India. Sangma later entered India illegally through the same route himself amid pressure from law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh and stayed at several locations to avoid detection. Officers said Sangma had been trying to return to Bangladesh and was in contact with the two accused before his arrest.
Sangma was produced in a court on Saturday and remanded in police custody for further investigation.
Hadi, 32, a lecturer at the University of Scholars in Dhaka and spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha, had emerged as a prominent figure during the July 2024 uprising that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina govt. He was critically wounded after being shot while campaigning in Dhaka and was airlifted to Singapore for treatment, where he died on Dec 18.