BNP leader Salahuddin’s family appoints lawyer to initiate legal process in India

BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed’s family has appointed senior advocate of Meghalaya High Court SP Mahanta to take up his case in India.

Ahmed is likely to be produced before the court once his health condition improves.

Meghalaya police booked the BNP leader under the Foreigners Act on May 11 for illegal entry to India.

The maximum punishment for illegal entry is imprisonment for five years.

Ahmed’s wife Hasina Ahmed met Mahanta at his residence on Wednesday morning to discuss the legal process.

She also had long discussions with the lawyers on Monday and Tuesday evening.

BNP Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony also met the lawyers along with Hasina.

Hasina is now planning to meet her husband in the presence of his lawyer.

Ahmed was shifted to North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences in Shillong at around 4 pm on Wednesday.

Doctors in Shillong’s Civil Hospital advised police administration to shift Ahmed for better treatment.

A relative, who arrived with Hasina, informed that they were also trying to initiate the legal process to take Ahmed to Singapore for better treatment.

“Salahuddin is very ill and is in urgent need of better treatment,” the relative said.

Salahuddin has already undergone medical surgery in Singapore. Hasina brought with her all medical reports of Salahuddin's earlier treatment in Singapore to assure the court about the veracity of her claims.

But a highly placed source of the Meghalaya police informed that a Red Notice had been issued in Bangladesh against Ahmed and as such it would be difficult for his family to move him to a 'Third Country' until the ‘Red Notice’ issue was resolved.

Hasina also talked to the doctors of the civil hospital, who are treating the former Bangladesh minister.

Meanwhile, the local administration has appointed lawyer IC Jha as the public prosecutor (PP) in the case.