BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed returned home on Sunday after spending over nine years in India’s Shillong.

He arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on an Air India flight around 2:15 PM, said BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

Salahuddin’s wife Hasina Ahmed and some BNP leaders, including its vice chairman Barkatullah Bulu, senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and joint secretary general Khairul Kabir Khokon, received him at the VIP lounge of the airport with a wreath.

The Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Guwahati issued his travel pass on August 6, clearing the way for his return.

Besides, several thousand leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies also gathered at the airport to welcome Salahuddin.

After remaining missing for 62 days, Salahuddin, a former state minister, was found in Shillong, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya on May 11, 2015.

He was arrested for entering India without valid documents and charged under the Foreigners Act.

Later, Shillong police pressed charges against him in the case.

BNP alleged that Salahuddin was abducted from his home in Uttara, Dhaka, on March 10, 2015, by individuals posing as detectives.

On October 26, 2018, a court in Shillong acquitted him of the charges related to his illegal entry.

This verdict was upheld by a higher court on February 28, 2023, which also directed the Indian government to arrange for his return to Bangladesh.