The Daily Nawroj Editor Shamsul Haq Durrani has been sent to jail in a case involving extortion of Tk20 lakh.
On Sunday, he surrendered and applied for bail, which was rejected by Dhaka’s Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Mahbubur Rahman.
Earlier, on 12 November, a contractor named Rajibul Islam filed the case in court, naming Shamsul Haq Durrani as the accused. The court issued an arrest warrant against the accused.
On Sunday, Shamsul Haq Durrani surrendered in court and applied for bail. On his behalf, Khorshed Mia Alam, president of the Dhaka Lawyers Association, presented arguments seeking bail.
Lawyer Khorshed Mia Alam said after the hearing that the court had rejected the bail application of the accused and ordered him to be sent to jail.
After the order, standing in the dock, the Nawroj editor told journalists that an arrest warrant was issued through a “false case” filed jointly by a judge and an official of the Law Ministry because The Daily Nawroj had published a report about a judge granting bail in a heroin smuggling case.
Shamsul Haq Durrani said, “If judges do wrong, can’t we run that news, can’t we write anything?” When asked how he understood that they had filed the case, he said, “The police told me this. I will not name who specifically.”
According to case details, Rajibul Islam is working on a contract worth Tk1.35 crore at the Melandah Upazila Seed Certification Office in Jamalpur. For a long time, some unknown individuals have been trying to disrupt the work.
Among them, on 7 November in the afternoon, a person called Rajibul on WhatsApp and asked to meet at Savar bus stand around 7pm. That person also assured to solve the problems in Jamalpur.
The complaint states when they met, Durrani demanded Tk20 lakh to resolve the trouble in Jamalpur. He threatened that he would not be able to work if the money was not given.
