Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Shillong, the capital city of the Indian state of Meghalaya, where the BNP leader was found after 63 days of apparent disappearance.

Shillong district and sessions court judge KML Nongbri passed the order on Wednesday after a hearing which started at 3:15pm Shillong time.

Defence lawyer SP Mohanto and Ani Agarwal had appealed to the court that the BNP leader, who has been charged for intrusion, be sent to judicial custody.

Police, however, refrained from making any appeal to the court.

Journalist Subrata Acharya, who was present at the court, told NTV Online that Salahuddin would be sent for routine health check-up before being sent to custody.

Earlier, on Tuesday afternoon, police took Salahuddin Ahmed into custody soon after he had been released from North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS).

BBC Bangla quoting Shillong Police Superintendent Vivek Syiem said doctors of NEIGRIHMS discharged Salahuddin as they think his physical condition is stable now.

After his release from the hospital, police took Salahuddin into took custody for interrogation and he was taken to Sadar police, said East Khasi Hills Police Superintendent M Kharkrang.

BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed has been in Meghalaya police custody since his arrest when he was hanging around aimlessly in Golf Links area of Shillong on 11 May after nearly two months of his disappearance.

Meghalaya police arrested the BNP leader and booked under the Foreigners Act as he had no valid papers, identity proof or travel permit.

BNP and Salahuddin’s family members had been claiming that law enforcers picked him up from a house at Uttara on the night of 10 March, an allegation denied by the law enforcers and the government.