Shillong: Security agencies in Meghalaya on Sunday dismissed claims by the Bangladesh Police that the killers of Inquilab Moncho leader Sharif Osman Hadi had entered the state.

The claims are unfounded and misleading, BSF chief in Meghalaya, Inspector General O P Opadhyay said.

A top Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer earlier in the day said that two primary suspects in the Hadi murder case have crossed into Meghalaya via the Haluaghat border “with the help of local associates”.

“There is no evidence to suggest that any individual crossed the international border from the Haluaghat sector into Meghalaya. The BSF has neither detected nor received any report of such an incident,” Opadhyay told PTI.

The claims being circulated are unfounded and misleading, he said.

A senior Meghalaya police officer also said that there was “no input or intelligence to corroborate” the claim of the suspects’ presence in the Garo Hills region.

The officer said local police units had not detected any such movement and coordination with central agencies was ongoing.

BSF officials said that the personnel deployed along the international border have been kept on a high state of alert at all times to avert any untoward incident, particularly in view of the unrest and volatile situation prevailing in the neighbouring country.

The force reiterated that the international border in the sector was under constant surveillance and any attempt at illegal cross-border movement would be promptly detected and dealt with.

Hadi, 32, was shot in the head on December 12 during an election campaign in Dhaka. He was airlifted to Singapore for advanced treatment but died of his injuries on December 18.

Hadi, spokesperson of Inquilab Moncho, was a prominent youth leader during the July-August 2024 mass street protests that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government last year.

He was also a parliamentary candidate for the upcoming February 12 elections.

The Garo Hills region falls under Meghalaya’s western sector, which shares an international border with Bangladesh and is guarded by the Border Security Force.