Asia-Pacific Newsweek
calcutta – The Kolkata Police (KP) on Friday night arrested a Bangladeshi national and former leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who had been staying at a hotel on Marquis Street for the past two years. The police seized forged documents including Aadhaar card and passport from him.
He was brought to Bankshall Court on Saturday afternoon and remanded in police custody.
Matabar's arrest in Kolkata comes amid a sharp decline in bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh after Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das was arrested by Bangladeshi police at Dhaka airport.
Acting on a tip, the Park Street Police Department raided the hotel on Marquis Street and arrested a man who identified himself as Rabi Sharma, police officials said.
To confirm his identity, Sharma produced a copy of what he claimed was his Aadhaar card and passport. “Even after that, we felt something was wrong and questioned him further,” a senior police officer said.
Sources said that during interrogation, Sharma admitted to the investigating police officer that his original name was Selim Matabar and that he hailed from Madaripur in Bangladesh. He has been living in Kolkata since he fled Bangladesh two years ago amid a political dispute with the then-ruling Awami League party.
Since his arrival in Calcutta, he has been working in a hotel on Marquis Street.
Following his confession, Park Street police arrested the defendant.
According to police sources, Mathabal's name came up in the investigation conducted by the Karnataka police team, which arrested six Bangladeshi nationals from Chitradurga.
