The Meghalaya Police and the Border Security Force have refuted the claims made by the Dhaka Police that two of the accused in the Osman Hadi murder case have fled to India's Meghalaya.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, a top official at the Meghalaya Police headquarters has rejected the claims made by Bangladesh and propagated by Bangladeshi media that Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh had fled into India from the neighbouring country's Haluaghat border in Mymensingh district.
The officials called the claim made by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and carried by a prominent Bangladeshi news outlet 'untruthful' and 'completely false'.
"No formal or informal communication has been received from the Bangladesh police. None of the accused named in the report has been traced in Garo Hills, and no arrests have been made," the official was quoted by HT as saying.
On the alleged role of two facilitators, Purti and Sami, the official said, "Neither Purti nor Sami has been identified, traced or arrested anywhere in Meghalaya. The narrative appears to have been constructed without verification or coordination with Indian authorities."
The Bangladeshi reports had claimed that Purti received the two accused in Indian territory and Sami, an alleged taxi driver, transported them to Tura.
The BSF also dismissed the claims of the neighbouring country. The report quoted Border Security Force (Meghalaya Frontier) Inspector General OP Upadhayay, saying, "There is no evidence whatsoever of these individuals crossing the international border from the Haluaghat sector into Meghalaya. No such incident has been detected or reported by the BSF. These claims are baseless and misleading."
Reacting strongly to the misinformation, the officials said that this was not an isolated misinformation incident.
The officials noted that a similar fabricated report was propagated by the Bangladeshi media about two weeks ago, which claimed that the BSF had shot dead two Bangladeshi infiltrators. Later, the reports were categorically denied by Indian authorities after verification.
The Meghalaya Police said that border vigilance has been stepped up as a precautionary measure. The police and the BSF have been coordinating to prevent misuse of border routes by criminal elements.
The intelligence sources have been activated. The enhanced security measures, the Meghalaya Police emphasised, are standard steps and must not be seen as a confirmation to false and fabricated claims.