International Crimes Tribunal's investigation agency yesterday said it was collecting information concerning allegations that 11 teachers of East Pakistani Agricultural University (now Bangladesh Agricultural University), including BNP leader Osman Faruk, committed crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.

Hailing from Kishoreganj’s Karimganj upazila, Osman was an assistant professor, the agency's co-coordinator, Sanaul Huq, told journalists at a press conference the agency organised at its office in the capital to inform of findings involving two war crimes cases.

If any concrete evidence is found, a formal probe will be launched, said the agency's coordinator, Abdul Hannan Khan, adding, "Documents show that Osman Faruk Shaheb was involved with antiliberation forces."

Names of the other teachers were not mentioned.

Sanaul told The Daily Star that during investigations in a case against Jatiya Party lawmaker MA Hannan from Mymensingh, they got to know that the Pakistani occupation army set up a torture cell turning the university into a cantonment

He said they obtained a secret intelligence report prepared in 1972 stating of the teachers' anti-liberation activities.

On Osman, the report said, "Had regular visits to the army officers. Invite them to his house for tea, dinners, ect. Used to speak against the Mukti Bahini and Awami League leadership publicly and support strongly the army actions. Used to work as informer for Pak army."

Contacted over the phone, the former education minister of the BNP-led four-party alliance government termed the allegations "totally false and baseless". "Till now nobody asked me about this. Nobody talked to me,” he said.

Till date, two former BNP lawmakers, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim, have been convicted of war crimes.

Other leaders have criticised the trials, alleging it was the ruling party's tool to eliminate political opponents, something the Awami League always refuted.