Meghalaya Police file charge sheet against ex-Bangladesh minister

Meghalaya Police on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against former Bangladesh minister Salahuddin Ahmed for trespassing into India.

"We have filed a charge sheet against Salahuddin Ahmed in the court of additional deputy commissioner judicial B. Mawrie under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act on charges of illegally entering India," Vivek Syiem, police chief of Shillong city, told IANS.

Ahmed, the communications minister and parliamentarian during the government of BNP leader Khaleda Zia from 2001-06, was arrested on May 11 after people alerted authorities about some suspicious movements by a man in an area here.

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. He also did not have any papers to prove his identity and citizenship.

Ahmed - the joint secretary general and spokesman of the opposition BNP - claimed he was kidnapped by unidentified people from Uttara area in Dhaka on March 10. He said he does not remember how he came to Meghalaya.

On May 27, the court of chief judicial magistrate K.M. Lyngdoh Nongbri had remanded Ahmed to 14 days' judicial custody after he was discharged from the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences.

"He is still undergoing treatment in the hospital and doctors treating him (Ahmed) are evaluating his health status," a NEIGRIHMS official said.