Bangabandhu's killer Abdul Mazed arrested after 45 years

NEWS DESK 

Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's killer captain (retd) Abdul Mazed has been arrested from the capital today.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Tuesday, "The arrest has been made inside the territory of Bangladesh ."

Reports in the media at various times indicated that Mazed was absconding in neighbouring India.

On whether he had been extradited from India, Khan said, "We found him in Bangladesh. Maybe fears over the coronavirus brought him back here."

The home minister, however, did not shed light on any further details regarding the arrest.

"A team of police's counter terrorism and transnational crime (CTTC) unit arrested him from Mirpur area around 3.30 am Tuesday acting on a tip-off," said Sharif Mahmud, public relation officer of the Home Ministry.

A Dhaka court has already sent the death row convict Abdul Mazed to jail after police produced him before it today.

After assuming power in 2009, ruling Awami League government executed five convicted Bangabangdhu killers on January 27 in 2010. They are - Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan.

However, six more self-confessed killers - Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Noor Chowdhury, Rashed Chowdhury, Abdul Mazed and Moslehuddin Khan- remained at large over last four decades.

The trial of Bangabandhu assassination case started in 1997, 22 years after a group of disgruntled army officers assassinated him along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975 in Dhamandi-32 residence.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on November 19, 2009 upheld the death penalty of 12 convicted ex-army officers for the assassinations.