Ahad Ali case: Complainant at court for first time in 24 years

Abdus Salam, the complainant of the long-drawn-out drug case against Rajshahi farmer Ahad Ali, yesterday appeared before the court for the first time in 24 years since filing of the case.

Salam, the then constable of Gabtoli bus terminal police outpost, who went into retirement in 2007, told the court that he was on duty at gate-4 of the terminal on March 28, 1998, when he got a tip-off from an unidentified person.

"It was around 8:10pm. An unidentified person showed me a man [Ahad Ali] and told me that he had something in his black bag. We searched his bag and recovered 100 grams of heroin in a small polythene packet," he told the court.

The case document reads that police, following a tip-off, found the drug in Ahad's bag in presence of two eyewitnesses -- Bidhan Kumar Sarkar and Sheikh Abul Kashem.

Apart from Bidhan and Kashem, seven policemen and a government-appointed chemical examiner were also made prosecution witnesses. But none came to testify all these years until February this year.

Sheikh Abul Kashem, a Gabtoli bus counter worker in 1998, in his testimony on February 8 told the court that police came to him and wrote down his name and address for a case.

Ahad Ali, a farmer in Rajshahi's Godagari, has been shuttling between Rajshahi and Dhaka for the last 24 years to appear before the court for a crime that he claims he did not commit.

Arrested in 1998 from Dhaka's Gabtoli bus terminal on charges of possessing heroin, he repeatedly told police that the seized drug was not his.

He also alleged that police demanded Tk 5,000 for his release.

Yesterday, Judge ASM Ruhul Imran of the Special Judge's Court-2 in Dhaka began hearing the case around 11:00am. Three correspondents of this newspaper were present there.

After the testimony, Ahad's lawyer Sanjib Mondal cross examined the witnesses, asking why there were no witness signatures in the first information report.

Salam did not have a response and neither could he give a proper reply to the question of why they did not prepare a seizure list after recovering the said drug.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, before making a search, the officer shall call upon two or more respectable inhabitants of the locality to attend and witness the search, which has to be done in their presence.

A list of all the things seized and the places they were found in must also be prepared by an officer and signed by witnesses.

When Mondal enquired about the search team leader, as a superior official is required for such a drive, Salam replied he led the team.

Another witness, Morshed Alam, a constable working in riot police, also testified yesterday, saying he was in the riot police and accompanied Salam as per the latter's order during the search.

During the cross examination, the defence told the court that as there was no seizure list prepared on the spot, "no heroin was recovered from his client".

The judge fixed June 14 for the next hearing, asking the authorities concerned to mandatorily produce the remaining witnesses, including the investigation officer named in the charge sheet.

The Daily Star talked to Abdus Salam, who has been living in Banaripara of Barishal since his retirement, after the hearing. 

He said he got a phone call from the higher authorities on Tuesday saying he had to appear before the court.

Asked about Abul Kashem's testimony, he said he wanted to "know about" Kashem first. When asked to elaborate, Salam did not have a response.

Then when queried why he did not include the informant in his witness list, he chose to walk away.

The police witness, Morshed Alam, who is now working in the traffic division of DMP, said it was Salam who conducted the search.