The call from India that 'saved' Sheikh Hasina from being assassinated. Book reveals who told her to board chopper or ‘she'd be killed’

Bangladesh's ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country just 20 minutes before the angry mob reached her place during the protest in August last year, could have been assassinated if she had not received a call from New Delhi. As per the book - ‘Inshallah Bangladesh: The Story of an Unfinished Revolution' - which is yet to be released, it was revealed that a call from India at 1:30 pm (local time) saved Hasina's life on August 5, 2024. After the call, Hasina boarded a chopper in the afternoon for a cargo flight that would eventually take her to India, where she is in exile right now. The book has been authored by Deep Halder, Jaideep Mazumdar, and Sahidul Hasan Khokon.

The book said that Indian aviation authorities had already permitted any aircraft carrying the Bangladesh prime minister to enter Indian airspace, Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman and the Air Force failed to convince Hasina. The book said that a call was made even to Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wajeed, in the US. He convinced her to "fly to India". But Hasina said she would “rather die than flee her country", the book claimed.

Later on, Hasina received a call from someone from India. The book did not reveal the identity of the person but said that “a top official in India whom Sheikh Hasina knew well". The official told Hasina, "it was already too late," and if she did not leave the country, she would be killed.

She took another half an hour to make up her mind to live to fight another day, the book claimed. “The aircraft took off from Tejgaon at 2.42 p.m. into the overcast skies, broke through the cloud cover and entered Indian airspace over Malda in West Bengal after about twenty minutes. The take-off coincided with another short spell of showers," the book said.