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.
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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. |