"Baseless": Sheikh Hasina Trashes Dhaka's India Claim Over Leader's Murder

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's former prime minister, has addressed the accusation against her Awami League party of orchestrating the killing of Bangladeshi student Sharif Osman Hadi last month. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the ousted premier said the assassination was a direct consequence of lawlessness and electoral violence in Bangladesh under the interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.

"The killing of Sharif Osman Hadi was a tragic and reprehensible act that was the direct consequence of the lawlessness and electoral violence that have consumed Bangladesh under the interim government," Sheikh Hasina said.

She noted that instead of being met with decisive action to prevent further violence, his death has been exploited by extremist groups in Bangladesh as a "political tool to pursue their own radical ideologies, inflame tensions, attack democratic institutions, and divert attention from the interim government's own failures in maintaining law and order."

Hasina Dismisses India Links In Hadi's Case

She asserted that Dhaka's attempts to link Hadi's killing with India were "deliberate and entirely baseless" and were driven by "fundamentalist forces" seeking to recast the Yunus government's failures as foreign conspiracies.

Hadi's killing has triggered fresh political unrest in Bangladesh and strained ties with India, after some groups alleged an Indian link to the crime. New Delhi has strongly rejected the accusations, calling them a "false narrative". India has also sought a thorough probe into Hadi's killing amid a sharp downturn in ties between the two countries.

"Attempts to link this case to India are deliberate and entirely baseless. They are driven by fundamentalist forces that thrive on hostility toward Bangladesh's closest ally and seek to recast internal governance failures as foreign conspiracies," the ousted leader said.

Hasina noted that Dhaka's "manufactured narrative" linking Hadi's case with India serves only to radicalise public discourse and undermine decades of trust between the two countries.

"These views are not representative of the people of Bangladesh and are actively harmful to our country's interests. India is our closest ally, and our two countries have worked together over many decades to build trusted trade and diplomatic relations and ensure the stability of our region," Hasina said.

"The Yunus government's knee-jerk approach to foreign policy is not only short-sighted, but it is also highly dangerous," she added.

Osman Hadi's Killing

Hadi, a prominent leader of Bangladesh's student uprising in 2024, was shot in the head by masked gunmen on December 12, 2025, in Dhaka. Six days later, he died at a Singapore hospital. He rose to prominence during last year's student-led protests that led to the end of Sheikh Hasina's rule in Bangladesh.

On August 4, 2024, Hasina fled to India, where she has remained, straining relations between Dhaka and New Delhi.

After Hadi's death, mobs in Dhaka staged mayhem, setting alight the main offices of mass circulation newspapers Prothom Alo and Daily Star and two progressive cultural groups, Chhayanat and Udichi Shilpi Goshthi, in Dhaka. A Hindu factory worker was also lynched by a mob in central Mymensingh.

Despite the scale and brutality of the violence, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has been accused of failing to take visible, effective action. There has been no sign of decisive nationwide security measures, no emergency protection plan for vulnerable communities, and no clear accountability for the perpetrators.