Police detectives took Salahuddin away, the BNP leader’s wife alleges

BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed’s wife has alleged the Detective Branch of police had picked up her husband.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 March 2015, 05:28 PM
Updated : 12 March 2015, 05:28 PM

Hasina Ahmed demanded immediate ‘release’ of the BNP joint secretary general on Thursday.

She was briefing the media after the High Court issued a rule earlier in the day asking the government why an order to find and present the ‘missing’ BNP leader before the court would not be issued.

Hasina, a former MP from women’s quota, alleged police did not record complaint over the ‘disappearance’ of her husband.

“It is my only expectation from the nation that my husband will be returned to me,” she said.

“How can be it that a man is picked up and cannot be traced...law enforcers are denying that he was picked up,” she said.

Salahuddin had been issuing statements calling for shutdowns from undisclosed places after the arrest of another BNP Joint Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

His family alleged he was picked up by plainclothesmen from a house at Uttara on Tuesday night, an allegation security forces deny.

“Who have picked him up if they (police) haven't? Isn’t there anyone to speak up even after a man was picked up this way?

“Shall we keep going to the police stations only to be denied...what kind of country are we living in?” she asked.

Hasina said Salahuddin’s two drivers and personal assistant were ‘picked up’ early on Sunday and they were shown arrested in a bomb attack case later on.

“Their families could not trace them for two days. They were tortured inhumanly,” she said, adding that they were taken to three-day remand.

“What are the faults of these poor men?” she asked. 

In reply to a question, she said they had no doubts that the DB personnel flashed IDs before the security guard of the building at Uttara from where Salahuddin was allegedly picked up.

“They came with six microbuses and took him away blindfolded,” she added.

Asked when was the last time she got in touch with her husband, Hasina said Salahuddin called her and tried to inform her when the DB men allegedly broke into the house around 10:30pm on Tuesday.

“I could not get what he was saying as the connection was lost. We tried to reach him several times.

“Failing to get him on the phone, we waited until morning. When we could not find him, we contacted the landlord,” she said.

But the landlord left for Dubai ‘fearing arrest’, she said. He contacted in the afternoon from Dubai.

She also said she spoke with her husband around 9:30pm on Tuesday.