Meghalaya court records statement of BNP leader Salahuddin

A court in India's Meghalaya state has recorded the statement of former Bangladesh minister Salahuddin Ahmed, who was arrested here for trespassing into India in May last year.

“The court of first class judicial magistrate D Sohtun has recorded the statement of Ahmed under section 313 of CrPC. He (Salahuddin) has submitted to the Court to allow him to submit his list of defence witnesses,” Public Prosecutor IC Jha said after the hearing on Monday.

In the past hearings, the court had recorded the statement of 10 witnesses; including two medical doctors from Civil Hospital.

Salahuddin, a former state minister in Khaleda Zia government, was arrested on May 11, 2015, after people alerted authorities about some suspicious movements by a man in an area in Meghalaya capital Shillong.

Police have registered a case against him under the Foreigners Act on charges of illegally entering India after he failed to produce his travel documents.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader also did not have any papers to prove his identity and citizenship.

Salahuddin has been admitted in various hospitals here after his arrest for various medical complications.

His treatment outside Meghalaya was granted following the recommendation of a medical Board from North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences hospital which submitted a report to the court citing various health complications.

However, appearance of Salahuddin, who went missing from Bangladesh since March 10, 2015, in Shillong still remains a mystery as police or central intelligence agencies are yet to crack out as to how he landed in Shillong.