Salahuddin faces trespass charges

Shillong police in the Indian state of Meghalaya yesterday pressed charges against BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed for trespass.

M Lamhare, investigating officer in the trespass case, submitted the charge sheet to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate KML Nongbri, said Vivek Syiem, superintendent of police in East Khasi Hills district.

The charge sheet comes 23 days after the case was filed under the foreigners act. If the BNP leader is found guilty, he might be handed a jail term, said lawyers.

Salahuddin, 54, is now receiving treatment at North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (Neigrihms) under judicial custody. Police arrested him on May 11, around two months after he went missing in Dhaka.

Law enforcers would again produce Salahuddin before the court on June 10 upon expiry of the tenure of his 14-day judicial custody as ordered by the court, said Subrata Acharjee, India bureau chief of Somoy TV.

On May 27, a Shillong court placed the BNP joint secretary general on judicial custody. Two days later, another court rejected his bail prayer. He sought bail for better treatment of his ailment in a third country.

The arrestee was first admitted to a mental hospital in Shilling as police found him “mentally unstable”. Later, he was shifted to Shillong Civil Hospital. On May 20, he was taken to Neigrihms for better treatment.

Salahuddin's family members and the BNP complained that law enforcers had picked him up from a house in the capital's Uttara on March 10.