By Express News Service

KOLKATA: Abdul Majed, an accused on death row on the charges of killing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was arrested on Tuesday by Bangladesh Police in Dhaka four-and-a-half decades after the assassination took place, admitted that he had been hiding in Kolkata for more than 22 years.

During the course of interrogation by Bangladesh police, Majed confessed that he had returned to Bangladesh last month from Kolkata.

"We had an informal discussion with our counterparts in Bangladesh after Majed’s arrest. They have not yet shared much details about Majed’s whereabouts in Kolkata and his activities during the period he stayed in the state capital," said an officer of the state Intelligence Branch (IB).

Sources in the state IB said they had come to know that the fugitive accused on death row, a sacked officer of Bangladesh Army, stayed at several places on the outskirts on Kolkata in both North and South 24-Parganas district.

"We were told that he had obtained documents to prove himself as an Indian citizen and got a passport. He did not stay at one place. He used to reside in rented houses which he changed on several occasions during his stay here," said the IB official.

Majed was one of the six remaining fugitive killers of Bangabandhu believed to be hiding abroad with no confirmed whereabouts. Majed disappeared in 1997 after Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Mujibar Rahman, was voted Prime Minister and she opened the case of her father’s assassination.

Majed returned to Bangladesh on March 16 via Kolkata airport.

"We were told that he was staying alone here. What was his profession in Kolkata is yet to be known. His wife resides in Bangladesh and son in the US," said another IB officer.