Dhaka – The missing joint secretary general of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Salahuddin Ahmed, was arrested in Indian state of Meghalaya, a newspaper reports in India said Tuesday.
Salahuddin’s wife Hasina Ahmed said she talked to her husband by mobile phone as he has been undergoing treatment at a mental hospital in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, close to Bangladeshi border in north-eastern Sylhet district.
Sources in the capital city of Shillong said local people found Salahuddin Ahmed at Golf Link area when he was wandering aimlessly then they informed police about him.
Shillong police took him into custody and sent to Meghalaya Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital for treatment, sources added.
“He (Salahuddin) has been traced at Meghalaya Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital in Shillong. The hospital authorities informed me by telephone and later my husband talked to me and said he is alive,” she said.
Salahuddin’s wife, also a former BNP lawmaker, sought government’s cooperation to bring him back home. She further said they are trying to reach him (Salahuddin) as soon as possible and sought cooperation from all concerned.
After receiving information, Hasina met BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office at 11:40am, according to party sources. During her stay at Khaleda’s residence, Salahuddin Ahmed also talked to the BNP chief.
Shillong Times editor Manas Chaudhuri said that local people suspected the movement Salahuddin Ahmed as he was wandering aimlessly in Golf Link area on Monday morning. Later, Shillong police arrested him.
Referring to Shillong police Chaudhuri, also a former cabinet minister of Meghalaya government said firstly they suspected that he was abnormal and he was admitted to a civil hospital of Shillong and later he was referred to NIMHANS.
A doctor of MIMHANS Hospital informed him that Salahuddin was well but he has cardiac problems. “Later he was admitted in a civil hospital for treatment under police custody,” he added.
Shillong Times said police on Monday morning arrested one Bangladeshi national from the city. Police said that the Bangladeshi national Salahuddin Ahmed (54) was arrested from Golf Link area in Shillong. The matter is under investigation.
Salahuddin Ahmed went missing from a residence at Uttara in the city on March 10. He was performing duties as party’s spokesperson after the arrests of two other leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. The family claimed at that time that the members of law enforcement agencies picked him up.
Salahuddin Ahmed’s disappearance at the height of anti-government raised widespread concern following similar disappearances of opposition activists including former lawmaker Elias Ali and former ward commissioner Chowdhury Alam.
On April 12, the High Court instructed authorities to carry out search operation for Salahuddin and to file reports every month on its progress.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said then that the BNP leader was not arrested. She also hinted that the BNP had orchestrated his ‘disappearance’.
Hasina Ahmed sought the prime minister’s intervention to trace her husband and went to the PMO twice on Mar 19 and Apr 7 to hand over memorandums. She also sought an appointment with the prime minister.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque said the conversation between Salahudidn Ahmed and his wife made it clear that the BNP leader was not abducted by law enforcing agencies.
He made this comments while talking to reporters at Police Headquarters in the city after the news spread about the Salahuddin‘s whereabouts.
Police was looking for him after he went missing. He is accused in a number of criminal charges related to violence.
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