Salahuddin taken to hospital

Shillong jail authorities last night admitted BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed to a specialised hospital to facilitate his treatment.

Chief Judicial Magistrate KML Nongbri of Shillong District and Sessions Judge Court yesterday ordered to put Salahuddin in judicial custody for 14 days.

The court, however, directed the jail authorities to arrange his medical checkup before sending him to jail while Shillong police produced the BNP leader before it in a cased filed for trespassing.

However, a BNP leader, who is attending Salahuddin in Shillong, told The Daily Star that the jail authorities rushed him to the hospital after he felt chest pains.

The BNP leader is undergoing treatment at the emergency department of the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (Neigrihms), Subrata Acharjee, India bureau chief of Somoy TV, told The Daily Star.

“Salahuddin will remain at hospital as per doctors’ instruction and he will be produced before the court once he is declared okay,” a police inspector at the Shillong court told Subrata quoting from the court order. 

“Police did not seek remand for Salahuddin considering his heath condition and political identity,” said a senior Shillong police official requesting anonymity.

“Salahuddin has been kept under close observation at the emergency VIP cabin after he his readmission to the hospital last night,” Prof AC Phukan, medical superintendent at the hospital, told The Daily Star.

“After the medical examinations, we will take a decision on where he would be sent from the emergency department,” the physician told Subrata.

Earlier on May 26, he was released from the hospital as his health condition was declared okay by the authorities at the hospital, located in Mawdiangdiang - about 12 kilometres from Shillong.

Salahuddin was picked up from a house in Dhaka's Uttara on March 10 allegedly by unidentified men who introduced themselves as detectives.

He was found in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, on May 11 after remaining missing for around two months. He was arrested for entering India without any valid documents.

After his arrest, police admitted Salahuddin to a mental hospital as they found him “mentally unstable”. Later, the BNP leader was taken to Shillong Civil Hospital. On May 20, he was shifted to the Neigrihms for better treatment.