Salahuddin was held in Aynaghor before being sent to India, says chief prosecutor
He made the remarks to journalists after inspecting the alleged secret detention facility at the RAB-1 headquarters in Uttara, Dhaka.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Aminul Islam today (1 August) said the investigation into the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell, widely known as "Aynaghor", found that current Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed had been detained there before being smuggled to India in 2015.
He made the remarks to journalists after inspecting the secret detention facility at the RAB-1 headquarters in Uttara, Dhaka.
A three-member bench of International Crimes Tribunal-1, accompanied by the prosecution team and defence lawyers, inspected the TFI cell following a tribunal order issued on 21 July.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Aminul Islam said the inspection was intended to show the judges the alleged torture cells firsthand and that their observations would form part of the court's memorandum judgment.
He also said no one who destroyed evidence in an attempt to conceal the existence of Aynaghor would be spared.
Defence lawyers, however, claimed there was no such facility as the TFI cell and denied RAB's involvement in the allegations.
The case concerns allegations of crimes against humanity over enforced disappearances at the TFI cell. Of the 17 accused, 10 army officers have been arrested. They were serving in RAB at the time of the alleged incidents, according to the investigation.
The remaining accused, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her former adviser Tariq Ahmed Siddique, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former RAB directors general Benazir Ahmed, M Khurshid Hossain and Md Harun Or Rashid, and Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Khairul Islam, are absconding.
The inspection followed a prosecution petition filed on 21 July seeking permission to examine the alleged secret detention facility operated by the Rapid Action Battalion.
The application also referred to allegations of enforced disappearances and torture of political opponents and activists at facilities run by the Rapid Action Battalion, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and the Detective Branch during the tenure of the former Awami League government.
Notably, BNP Standing Committee member and current Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed went missing from his home in Dhaka's Uttara on 10 March 2015, with the party alleging he had been abducted by people posing as detectives.
After 62 days, he was found in Shillong, India's Meghalaya state, on 11 May and was arrested for entering the country without valid documents.
He was acquitted by a Shillong court in 2018, and the verdict was upheld by a higher court in 2023, which also directed the Indian government to arrange his return to Bangladesh.
After nearly nine years, he returned to Bangladesh on 11 August 2024.
