Former ASP Fazlur sent to jail in enforced disappearance case involving Sayeedi defence witness Sukhranjan Bali
A Dhaka court has ordered the imprisonment of retired Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Md Fazlur Rahman in connection with the enforced disappearance case of Sukhranjan Bali, who allegedly went missing after arriving to testify for Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam passed the order on Friday afternoon following a hearing. Fazlur, however, was not produced in the courtroom during the proceedings and remained in the court lock-up.
Earlier, on Thursday night, detectives from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested Fazlur from his residence in the capital’s Badda area. He was subsequently handed over to the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
Investigating officer Md Helalul Islam on Friday produced Fazlur before the court, seeking that he be formally shown arrested in the enforced disappearance case involving Sukhranjan Bali and kept in custody until completion of the investigation.
Sukhranjan Bali disappeared in 2012 after arriving at the ICT to testify on behalf of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, who was on trial for crimes against humanity committed during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War.
On 28 February 2013, the tribunal sentenced Sayeedi to death. On 17 September 2014, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, by a majority verdict, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Sayeedi died in custody while undergoing treatment at what was then Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), now Bangladesh Medical University (BMU), on 14 August 2023.
According to the investigation officer's application, Sukhranjan Bali arrived at the main gate of the old High Court building housing the ICT at around 9:30 am on 5 November 2012, accompanied by his lawyer. The application alleges that several plainclothes men forcibly removed him from his vehicle and bundled him into a white double-cabin vehicle.
It further states that Bali was blindfolded and held in a dark room for nearly two months, where he was physically tortured before being taken across the border into India. He reportedly spent five years in Dum Dum Central Correctional Home. After Indian media reported his case, his son, Apurba Bali, travelled to India, secured his release on bail and brought him back to Bangladesh.
The IO told the court that evidence gathered during the investigation indicated that, on the day of the incident, Fazlur Rahman and other members of the DMP Detective Branch transported Sukhranjan Bali from the tribunal premises to the DB office in two double-cabin vehicles before later sending him across the border into India. The application states that preliminary evidence has established Fazlur's involvement, making his continued detention necessary until the investigation is completed.
According to the case statement, Sukhranjan Bali, a resident of Pirojpur, disappeared on 5 November 2012 after arriving at the tribunal to testify in favour of Sayeedi.
At the time, law enforcement agencies claimed he had been found near the border. His family and human rights organisations, however, maintained that he had been abducted from the tribunal premises. The incident generated widespread public attention.
Following the fall of the Awami League government during the student-led mass uprising on 5 August 2024, Sukhranjan Bali filed a written complaint with the prosecution office of the ICT on 21 August that year.
In the complaint, he alleged that he had been subjected to enforced disappearance and torture after refusing to testify against Sayeedi and later agreeing to testify in his defence.
The complaint names 32 individuals, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar (SK) Sinha.
Others accused include former ICT Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq Nasim, former Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, former State Minister for Law Kamrul Islam, former ICT judge ATM Fazle Kabir, former investigating officer Helal Uddin, and former Pirojpur-1 MP AKM Awal. It also names 10 to 15 unidentified persons as accused.