Erfan Salim gets exempt from narcotics case

A Dhaka court on Monday cleared Mohammad Erfan Salim, son of Awami League leader and lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim, in a narcotics case as police did not find any evidence to prove the charges against him and prosecution did not seek further investigation.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Shahinur Rahman passed the order after a short hearing on the probe report that cleared Erfan, a suspended ward councillor.

On February 18, Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Special Tribunal-1 in Dhaka cleared Erfan from an arms case.

Officials of Rapid Action Battalion, after a raid on Erfan's Chawkbazar house on October 26 last year, told reporters that they seized five bottles of foreign liquor and an unlicensed pistol with two bullets from Erfan, while 406 yaba tablets and an illegal pistol with four bullets were recovered from his bodyguard Zahidul Mollah.

Chawkbazar police submitted the probe reports in the arms and drug cases to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka on January 5.

In their final reports, Chawkbazar police said they did not find any evidence to prove the charges against Erfan in the two cases filed under the narcotics control and arms acts. The investigation officer also appealed to the court to clear Erfan in the cases.

But Erfan cannot walk out of jail as he is yet to secure bail in an attempt to murder case filed in October last year, his lawyer Pran Nath told The Daily Star.

In the attempted murder case, police found evidence to prove the charges.

Erfan was arrested after the case was filed against him on charges of attacking Lt Wasif Ahmed Khan of Bangladesh Navy in the capital's Dhanmondi area on October 25 last year.

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