Taken to Shillong by car, blindfolded

BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed, who had remained missing for about two months, was blindfolded when he was dropped off by a car in Golf Link area of Shillong on Monday, according to two of his relatives. 

He was taken to Shillong, the capital of Indian state of Meghalaya, by an SUV after nearly an overnight's drive. But he could not say from where the car started and who were with him.

Removing the blindfold, Salahuddin asked people about the place and came to know that it was Shillong. He went to a nearby police station and gave his identity, one of the relatives, Ayub Ali, quoted the BNP leader as saying.

The two relatives met him at the prison cell of Shillong Civil Hospital yesterday afternoon. Ayub, introducing himself as a cousin of Salahuddin and a resident of Kolkata, briefed journalists emerging from the hospital. 

The Daily Star learnt from a reporter of Shillong Times what Ayub told the newsmen.

But sources from Shillong earlier told this newspaper that locals and police found Salahuddin roaming Golf Link area on Monday.

Finding him “mentally unbalanced”, law enforcers later sent him to Meghalaya Institute of Health & Neurological Science and then to Shillong Civil Hospital, according to local police.  

He was arrested on charges of trespassing under the Foreigners Act since he had no valid papers, police said.

Immediately after his arrest, Salahuddin told the Meghalaya police that a group of people claiming to be detectives picked him up from his Uttara residence in Dhaka on March 10, according to multiple sources in Shillong.  

He also told police that was kept confined for nearly two months before his landing in Shillong, the sources added.

Hasina Ahmed, wife of the BNP leader, on Tuesday told the media that her husband phoned her from Meghalaya Institute of Mental Health & Neurological Science.

In a latest development, Interpol's National Central Bureau in Dhaka yesterday sent a “letter of request” to its New Delhi bureau to arrest Salahuddin.

“The Interpol's National Central Bureau in Delhi has forwarded the letter to us this morning with a request to arrest the Bangladesh political leader [Salahuddin],” Vivek Syiem, superintendent of police (city) of East Khashi Hills in Meghalaya, told The Daily Star around 5:00pm yesterday over the phone. 

 In reply, the Meghalaya police said they already arrested the BNP joint secretary general.

In the Interpol's letter, Salahuddin was identified as a fugitive with several criminal cases against him in Bangladesh. It was sent upon request from the Bangladesh government.

Meghalaya police on completion of the court procedures might hand over Salahuddin to Interpol's Dhaka wing through New Delhi.

Salahuddin seems well enough to be produced before the court, but the hospital authority is yet to release him, Vivek said.

He added it might take around one to two weeks to submit the charge sheet against Salahuddin and around three months to complete the court proceedings.

Replying to a query, Vivek said Meghalaya police and special branch officials started quizzing Salahuddin in the hospital's prison cell without hampering his treatment.

Another official, Royal S Mawlong, deputy police superintendent of East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, said the Interpol letter was not something like the “red alert” but a kind of request.

In Dhaka, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday told reporters that he was not aware of the Interpol letter.

He, however, said Bangladesh government started the process to bring back Salahuddin.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque yesterday told reporters that he already communicated with his Indian counterpart seeking information on the BNP leader.

Talking to reporters at his office, he also said the home and foreign ministries would formally write to India for handing over Salahuddin to Bangladesh.

BNP URGES GOVT

After maintaining silence over Salahuddin being traced in Shillong, the BNP yesterday urged the government to ensure Salahuddin's safe return.

The party also said they should not make further comments on the issue until they get the real picture.

“We're not silent. Salahuddin is now in a place of Indian northern state Meghalaya with which Bangladesh has no good communications,” BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon said at a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office. 

“Before talking about him, we need to know his actual condition. We still could not contact him.”

As his attention was drawn to the Interpol letter, Ripon said, it reflected Bangladesh government's attitude towards Salahuddin.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin's family sources said his wife, though prepared to leave Dhaka for Shillong, was yet to get an Indian visa.

Talking to The Daily Star over telephone yesterday, she said a BNP assistant office secretary, Abdul Latif Jony, had reached Shillong on Wednesday to meet her husband.