Amid massive curiosity over outgping Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's whereabouts after she fled her country amid deadly protests, latest reports claim that an aircraft carrying her landed at the Hindon Airbase of Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Monday evening. Sources cited by news agency ANI and PTI said Sheikh Hasina has landed at Hindon Air Base of Ghaziabad in neighbouring in a C-130 transport aircraft.
India's National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval also met Sheikh Hasina at the Hindon Air Base in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, sources said, adding that Indian Air Force and other security agencies were providing security to her and she was being moved to a safe location.
"The aircraft will be parked near the Indian Air Force’s C-17 and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft hangars. The aircraft movement was monitored by Indian Air Force and security agencies from its entry into Indian airspace to Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad," ANI quoted the sources as saying.
Bangladesh Air Force flight with callsign AJAX1431 carrying outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina became the most tracked aircraft on flight tracking portal Flightradar24 as her curiousity over her whereabouts grew after she fled her country. The flight was seen crossing West Bengal and Tripura, where reports initially said she was to land.
Reports claimed Hasina, along with her sister Sheikh Rehana, reached Tripura in a military chopper, from where they proceeded in another aircraft. The AJAX1431 was the most tracked flight in the world on Monday.
None of the information on Sheikh Hasina's whereabouts was confirmed by any authority. Bangladesh Unrest LIVE Updates
India Providing Safe Passage To Hasina: Sources
Diplomatic sources cited by news agency PTI said India decided to provide a safe passage through the Indian airspace to Hasina's aircraft following a request from Dhaka. The sources said Sheikh Hasina is on her way to London through India and was expected to have a stopover in India.
It was not immediately clear whether the military transport aircraft was to take Sheikh Hasina beyond India or she was to travel to London in a different plane.
Some reports said Sheikh Hasina's aircraft tried to land in Bengal, however, was unable to due to permission. Some reports that claimed that Sheikh Hasina has landed in Tripura's Agartala showed visuals of an entourage getting off a chopper and boarding a car, however, those clips were also run by local media when they said Hasina was flying out of the country.
Indian Air Force Alerts Fighter Planes
When the aircraft carrying Hasina was in air, sources cited by news agency ANI had said that Indian security agencies were monitoring the C-130 aircraft with call sign AJAX1431 since 10 kms from Indian border with Bangladesh and it is heading towards Delhi.
"The Bangladesh Air Force plane has crossed Patna and reached near UP-Bihar border. Top security brass monitoring the situation very closely. All radars active and keeping a close watch on it," the sources had said.
Sources also said Indian Air Force fighter aircraft were airborne soon after the Bangladeshi C-130 aircraft entered Indian airspace and kept an eye on it for some time. The Indian Air Force and Indian Army were prepared to meet any contingency, the sources cited by ANI said.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday country's after which Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced an interim government was taking over.
"I'm taking all responsibility (of the country). Please cooperate," he said in a televised address amid reports that Hasina has left the country. There were unconfirmed reports that she was headed to a city in India.
Hasina 'Forced To Quit'
The private Jamuna television news channel of Bangladesh reported that Sheikh Hasina was forced to quit as prime minister after massive protests against her government over a controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's War of Independence in 1971.
The channel said that Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana left the country in a helicopter, however, as per Flightradar24 details, the plane Sheikh Hasina is travelling on was a Lockheed C-130j Hercules.
The government earlier ordered a complete internet shutdown as protestors asked the general public to join a "Long March to Dhaka". However, a government agency gave a verbal order to start broadband internet around 1:15 on Monday.
The rule of Sheikh Hasina, the 76-year-old daughter of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is coming to an end after 15 years.
Hasina was elected for a record fourth consecutive term and fifth overall term in the 12th general election held in January, amid a boycott by the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former premier Khaleda Zia and its allies.
