Awami League lawmaker Haji Md Salim has been admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in Dhaka after spending one night in jail.
He was brought to BSMMU from Keraniganj Central Jail in an ambulance at 9am on Monday, Mahbub Alam of the central jail confirmed to Bangla Tribune.
BSMMU Director Brigadier General Nazrul Islam Khan said the Awami League leader was suffering from heart disease. "He is now undergoing treatment at the hospital."
On Sunday, a Dhaka court sent Haji Md Salim to jail in a graft case, rejecting his bail petition.
The court, however, accepted two other petitions of the lawmaker– one for providing him proper treatment and the other to provide him first-class division facilities in jail.
Haji Salim, who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), went to Bangkok for treatment on May 2 and returned home on May 5. The incident sparked a huge controversy.
On February 10, the full text of the High Court’s verdict was published upholding his 10-year imprisonment for amassing wealth worth Tk14.65 crore beyond known sources of his income.
The High Court asked him to surrender before the trial court within 30 days of receiving the verdict.
On March 9 last year, the High Court bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq upheld the lower court order sentencing the MP to 10 years in jail after hearing a petition by the ACC.
At the same time, the Dhaka 7 lawmaker was acquitted of a three-year jail term in the same case filed by the ACC for concealing wealth information.
The High Court also reduced the fine imposed on Salim by half to Tk10 lakh. He would have to spend one more year in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
In 2007, the ACC filed the case against Salim.
On April 27, 2008, Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-7 sentenced Haji Salim to a total of 13 years imprisonment over two separate charges brought in the case and fined him Tk20 lakh.
The court also sentenced his wife Gulshan Ara to three years imprisonment for abetting her husband’s crime and keeping the ill-gotten wealth in her possession.
Challenging the verdict, Haji Salim filed an appeal with the HC, against the trial court verdict on October 25, 2009.
Following the appeal, the High Court acquitted Haji Salim of the graft case on January 2, 2011.
However, the ACC then appealed against the High Court verdict to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
On January 12, 2015, the Appellate Division scrapped the High Court verdict and directed the court to hold a rehearing of Haji Salim’s appeal and to dispose of the appeal again.
Gulshan Ara had also submitted an appeal in 2013 against the lower court verdict but her appeal was cancelled by the HC, following her death in 2020.
Irregularities of Selim resurfaced after his son Irfan Selim was arrested for assaulting a navy official in 2020.
