ASP arrested in 2012 Sayeedi witness Sukharanjan abduction case
A police officer has been arrested on Thursday over the alleged abduction of Sukharanjan Bali, a defence witness for late Jamaat-e-Islami leader and former Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossian Sayeedi, from the premises of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in 2012 before he was allegedly trafficked to India.
The arrest was confirmed on Friday by Senior Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal Mizanul Islam.
"ASP Fazlur Rahman was arrested by the DB police last night. However, the place of his arrest is not being disclosed at this stage," Mizanul Islam told reporters.
Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) of the DB Police Niaz Mehdi also confirmed the arrest.
According to the allegations, Sukharanjan was picked up by plainclothes police from the entrance to the International Crimes Tribunal on 5 November 2012 when he arrived to testify in favour of Sayeedi.
Following the political changeover on 5 August 2024, Sukharanjan filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal on 22 August 2025 against 32 people, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former chief justice Surendra Kumar (SK) Sinha and others, over his alleged abduction and enforced disappearance. The case remains under investigation.
In his complaint, Sukharanjan claimed that prosecutors had pressured him to testify against Sayeedi during the tribunal proceedings. Instead, when he arrived at the tribunal to give evidence, he was allegedly forced into a microbus by plainclothes police officers.
He claimed that he was held in enforced disappearance for two months and 17 days before being taken across the border into India, where he remained imprisoned for five years.
The disappearance of a defence witness during Sayeedi's trial drew significant international attention at the time.
In 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sentenced Sayeedi to death for crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War. However, the Appellate Division later commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. He died while undergoing treatment at Bangladesh Medical Hospital on 14 August 2023.