RAB charges chairman, acting editor of banglamail24.com for spreading rumours

The RAB has started a case against the acting editor, three others of online news portal banglamail24.com accusing them of spreading rumours.

Paltan police OC Rafiqul Islam on Monday night told bdnews24.com that a RAB official lodged the case under the ICT Act.

Of the four accused, the Dhaka-based online newspaper’s founding chairman and former independent MP Md Fazlul Azim has been described to a fugitive.

The three others, Acting Editor Shahadat Ulla Khan, Executive Editor Maksudul Alam and Staff Reporter Pranta Palash, have been shown arrested.

The trio was handed over to Paltan police in the evening, OC Islam said.

Later on Monday, a government handout said the accreditation cards of nine journalists of the newspaper had been cancelled, without assigning any reason.

On Sunday, the online portal ran a story on a report published by another portal named ‘Todaynews71’, which said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy had died in a plane crash.

The banglamail report had dubbed the ‘Todaynews71’ story a rumour.

RAB raided the Kakrail offices of banglamail24 around 11pm on Sunday and picked up Khan, Alam and Palash.

“They have been brought in on allegations of spreading rumours. Whether we let them go or show them arrested will depend on information they give us,” RAB-3 chief Khandaker Golam Sarwar had told bdnews24.com at the time.

A banglamail reporter said they had been requested by an official of the prime minister’s Press Wing to retract the story they ran, but banglamail authorities decided not to do so.

The banglamail24.com website was inaccessible on Monday night.

Former lawmaker Fazlul Azim’s Azim Group owns banglamail.

Azim, a former BNP leader, is also a former vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).