CALCUTTA, 25 September 2004 — One of Bangladesh’s most wanted men was gunned down Thursday deep inside India in what is being described as the first joint operation by the security forces of the two countries.
Manoranjan Gossain, alias Mrinal, the 46-year-old chief of the New Biplabi Communist Party (M-L) — a banned Bangladeshi outfit — was shot dead inside a house in Shantipur town of West Bengal’s Nadia district.
A West Bengal government spokesman told Arab News that Manoranjan carried a reward of one million Bangladeshi taka on his head in connection with 150 criminal cases, including 100 murders committed in Bangladesh’s Khulna district.
But he declined to give details of the joint police operation saying that everything was coordinated by New Delhi which has issued instructions not to reveal anything to the press.
The spokesman added that Bangladesh recently launched a manhunt to track down Manoranjan and sought India’s cooperation to nab him. Dhaka specifically requested India’s help to catch Manoranjan during the recent high-level meeting Dhirendra Singh and Omar Farook, home secretaries of India and Bangladesh, for resolving border-related problems.
Last week, Manoranjan’s right-hand man, Alamgir Kabir Alam, was killed in a shoot-out in North 24 Paragana’s Swaroopnagar inside India not too far from the international border.
Unlike communists in India who are a widely respected lot, several Marxist outfits in Bangladesh are engaged in kidnappings and extortions. They are also suspected of killings of several journalists who exposed their criminal activities.
A senior official of the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Calcutta said that Manoranjan’s body would be sent to Khulna as soon as Indian officials complete the necessary formalities.
West Bengal police have arrested seven people in Shantipur, including Adhir Chandra Mirdha, in whose house Manoranjan has reportedly been hiding since Sunday. Unconfirmed reports said Mirdha’s wife Suchitra is related to Manoranjan.
At the home secretary level meeting, it was decided to set up a hotline between Dhaka and Calcutta to thrash out bilateral problems before they spun out of control.
More specifically, there was a proposal to start joint patrolling to curb terrorist activities, drug smuggling and trafficking in women and children along the West Bengal-Bangladesh border.
Indian officials say that they look forward to Dhaka’s cooperation in arresting many top separatists from the restive northeast who have found a safe haven in Bangladesh. Dhaka has consistently denied the presence of Indian insurgents in Bangladesh and accused New Delhi of sheltering many of its most wanted men to use them against Bangladesh. Officials said Thursday’s joint operation was the outcome of the Sept. 15-17 meeting of home secretaries in Dhaka — the first in four years.
