A case has been lodged against Daily Manabzamin Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury and 31 others under the Digital Security Act.
Md Shifuzzaman Shikhor, the MP of Magura 1 constituency, filed the case at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station on Tuesday, confirmed the station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Zan E Alam Munshi.
Of the 31, some were named, including Manabzamin Staff Reporter Al-Amin, and the others unidentified.
OC Munshi said: “The case has been filed for spreading confusion by publishing false, fabricated and defamatory news.”
The case mentioned a report published by Manabzamin on March 2 that said expelled Narsingdi Jubo Mohila League leader Shamima Noor Papia told investigators, during interrogation, about 30 people who frequented her den. The news did not reveal any name.
The report said that investigators later confirmed their identities from the CCTV camera footages provided by Westin hotel and secret video footage recorded by Papia.
It also added that these people included ministers, state ministers, MPs from ruling and opposition parties, bureaucrats, leaders of ruling party wings, and several businessmen visited Papia’s den regularly.
MP Shikhor alleged in the case that the report contained false information and implicated several lawmakers without mentioning their names directly. Mentioning several names in the case statement, he said these people also defamed him by sharing the news on social media.
Earlier, on February 22, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had arrested Papia and her husband, along with their accomplices, from the city’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with counterfeit banknotes, foreign currencies, and cash.
RAB recovered seven passports, around Tk2.12 lakh in cash, Tk25,600 in fake currency, and a huge amount of fake currencies of different countries.
After the arrest, RAB revealed that Papia was the ringleader of a gang and smuggled counterfeit notes. It also revealed that she was also involved in illegal arms business and drug dealing, and ran a prostitution racket.
Later, the elite force also recovered one foreign-made pistol, two magazines, 20 bullets, 5 bottles of foreign liquor, 5 passports, 3 cheque books, some foreign currencies, and 10 bank cards from Papia’s residences.
