A court in Meghalaya on Monday recorded the statement of former Bangladesh Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, who was arrested here for trespassing into India on May 11, 2015.
"The court of first class judicial magistrate D. Sohtun has recorded the statement of Ahmed under section 313 of CrPC. He (Ahmed) has submitted to the Court to allow him to submit his list of defence witnesses," Public Prosecutor I.C. Jha told IANS after the hearing.
In the past hearings, the court had recorded the statement of ten witnesses, including two doctors from the Civil Hospital.
Ahmed, Communications Minister during the government of Bangladesh Nationalist Party 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.
After his arrest, Ahmed has been admitted in various hospitals here, besides at Medanta, Gurgaon, for his various illnesses.
His treatment outside Meghalaya was granted following the recommendation of a medical board from North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences which submitted a report to the court citing various health complications.
However, appearance of Ahmed, who went missing from Bangladesh since March 10, 2015, in Shillong still remains a mystery as police or central intelligence agencies are yet to ascertain as to how he landed in Shillong.
--IANS
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