Bagerhat war crimes accused arrested

A man has been arrested from Bagerhat for his alleged involvement with war crimes during the 1971 War of Independence, police say.

Abdul Latif Talukdar is accused of killing 42 people, arson and loot at ‘Shankharikathi Bazar’ in Bagerhat’s Kachua Upazila during the war.

The killings came to be known as ‘Shankharikathi massacre’.

The arrest was made a day after the International Crimes Tribunal issued a warrant against him.

Kachua police station in-charge Abu Zihah Fakhrul Alam Kan said Talukdar had been sent to Dhaka.

He was arrested from his home at Kachua’s Solarkola village on Wednesday morning.

The Awami League-led government set up two tribunals to try suspected war criminals.

So far 10 people, mostly current and former Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, have been convicted.

A local resident, Nimai Chandra Das, filed a case against Talukdar and several others in 2009 after the government initiated the war crimes trial process.

Senior Superintendent of Police Md Helal Uddin, investigating the case, said altogether 63 cases had been filed over alleged war crimes in the district.

</div>  </p><p>Only a few cases, including the Dakra massacre and Shankharikathi massacre, were taken into cognisance after investigation.<br><br>The case filed over Shankharikathi massacre was sent to the tribunal on May 21 last year, he said.<br><br>The tribunal took cognisance of the case and issued a warrant for Talukdar’s arrest on Tuesday, added Helal Uddin.</p>