Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami said on Tuesday that legal process has to be completed before extradition of Bangladeshi businessman PK Halder from India to Bangladesh. Halder, wanted in Bangladesh for money laundering and a series of financial crimes, was arrested on Sunday by India’s federal Enforcement Directorate, in West Bengal.   While responding to questions from reporters after a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Doraiswami said it is a process and it is not like exchanging Christmas cards. Also read:PK Halder to stay in federal agency's custody for 10 more days “These are things done through legal process. Let that happen slowly,” he said, adding that they are working with the Bangladesh government. He said there will be response from their side at some point of time based on the information they are provided with. Earlier, the high commissioner had a meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on the preparation of foreign minister-level Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting to be held in Delhi on May 30 and and discussed cooperation in bilateral and multilateral domains. During his meeting the FS raised the issue and sought India’s support for handing over PK Halder to Bangladesh. He said the envoy assured of their full cooperation in the matter. The foreign secretary said India will take into consideration Bangladesh’s request once they complete their own legal process there.  He said there will formal request through the diplomatic channel too and the Home Ministry will play an active role to that end. Bangladesh wants to know full extent of financial criminality of PK Halder in India that might help in terms of the cases he faces in Bangladesh. It’s up to India to see if he committed any crime there and that may be under investigation , he said. Responding to a question, the FS said it does not necessarily require legal framework always if there is very good friendship between the two countries. He, however, said cases related to financial criminality might be different from other criminal cases.

Bangladesh is persuing legal recourse in the US for the repatriation of fugitive Rashed Chowdhury, a convicted assassin of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said. "It is in the legal process. We’re pursuing it." Read:Bangladesh, Kuwait to chart out roadmap for boosting bilateral cooperation: FM But the legal process is a time-consuming matter in the US, he said, responding to a poser at a press briefing in New York on Tuesday. “(But) we are hopeful (of bringing back Rashed Chowdhury to Bangladesh). Our belief is that we’ll be able to bring back the person to the country after completing the legal process,” said Dr Momen. He said that Bangladesh had earlier brought another killer back to the country from the US.