Hearing on probe report deferred till Feb 18

A Dhaka tribunal yesterday deferred to February 18 for hearing on the probe report submitted by police clearing Mohammad Erfan Salim, son of Awami League leader and lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim, from an arms case.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Special Tribunal-1 of Dhaka passed the order after scrutinising case dockets and documents.

On January 11, the same tribunal fixed yesterday for hearing on the probe report after getting the case from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.

Chawkbazar police on January 5 submitted the probe reports of arms and drug cases to the magistrate's court.

In their final report, Chawkbazar police said they did not find evidence to prove the charges against Erfan Salim in two cases.

Erfan's bodyguard Md Zahidul Mollah, however, was charged with possession of an illegal firearm and narcotics.

Erfan was arrested after a case was filed against him on charge of "attacking" Lt Wasif Ahmed Khan of Bangladesh Navy in Dhanmondi on October 25 last year. 

Rab conducted a drive at Haji Salim's house in Old Dhaka the next day.

After the raid, Rab officials said they recovered two unlicensed firearms raiding the fourth and fifth floors of Erfan's nine-storey building in Chawkbazar.

They also recovered 38 walkie-talkies, five virtual private servers (VPS), and a briefcase which contained handcuffs.

On October 26 last year, a mobile court of Rab handed six months' imprisonment to Erfan for keeping the walkie-talkies illegally and the other six months for possessing illegal liquor.