Assault on Navy officer: HC denies bail to Irfan Salim

The High Court on Wednesday refused bail to Irfan Salim, son of Awami League leader Haji Salim, in a case filed over assaulting a Navy officer in October last year.

The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Badruzzaman passed the order. Lawyer Sayed Ahmed Raza stood for the accused while Deputy Attorney general Md Bashir Ullah represented the state.

According to the case statement, a private car hit Bangladesh Navy's Lieutenant Wasif Ahmed Khan's motorcycle near Labaid Hospital at Dhanmondi around 7:45pm when he and his wife were returning to their Mohammadpur residence from Nilkhet.

Later, some people including Irfan came out of the car and physically assaulted Wasif and verbally abused his wife. The Navy officer later filed a case with Dhanmondi police station, naming four people including Irfan.

The three other accused are AB Siddique Dipu, 45, Md Zahid, 35, and Md Mizanur Rahman, 30. All of them are behind bars now. On 26 October, 2020, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained Irfan from his father's Devdas Lane residence in Old Dhaka.

Two firearms, 38 walkie-talkies and liquor were seized from Irfan's house during the drive.

Meanwhile, the government suspended Irfan from the post of councillor on 27 October, last year. The Awami League leader's son has been facing four more cases.

On 5 January, a Dhaka court granted bail to Irfan on the condition that he appears before the court on Tuesday every week in a drug case.

He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for keeping walkie-talkies illegally and another six months for possessing illegal liquor on 26 October, 2020 by a mobile court led by RAB.