Former army officer Major (retired) Mohammad Mozzafar Hossain, accused in the 1981 assassination of Bangladesh’s President Ziaur Rahman, was arrested by the Detective Branch from Dhaka’s DOHS area on Wednesday night after 45 years on the run. He was later handed over to the army. Mozzafar, one of 18 officers convicted by a military tribunal for the killing, had fled to India and lived under a changed name, occasionally returning to Bangladesh.

Investigations and eyewitness accounts cited in the report describe Mozzafar’s role in the operation at Chittagong Circuit House, where Zia was shot dead by mutinous soldiers on 30 May 1981. Mozzafar reportedly informed Major General Abul Manzoor of the president’s death and helped bury Zia and two other officers in a remote hill area. The bodies were later recovered and flown to Dhaka.

Researcher Mohiuddin Ahmed told the newspaper that Mozzafar’s arrest could allow the government to enforce his pending sentence and shed new light on the conspiracy behind Zia’s killing, depending on the outcome of his interrogation.