Prothom Alo reporter Samsuzzaman Shams has been picked up by a team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police from his rented house in Ashulia of Savar.
The Prothom Alo staff correspondent was taken away from his house at Ambagan, an area next to Jahangirnagar University around 5am on Wednesday.
Ashulia police station Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Raju Mondal said: "An SP of the CID was there. They just told me to be present there; they kept me as an officer in uniform.
"There were four additional SPs as well. There was no scope for me to question anything. I did not even whom they would detain. I only got some details later from a local journalist."
According to witnesses, a total of 16 people in three vehicles arrived in front of Samsuzzaman's house around 4am, and around eight of them entered the house.
One searched Samsuzzaman's living room and took away a laptop used by him, two mobile phones and a portable hard disk drive.
After 10-15 minutes, they took him to Bottala of Jahangirnagar University.
Some students of the university said 19 people, including Sudipta Shaheen, the chief security officer of the university, a security guard and Samsuzzaman had sehri, the meal consumed by Muslims before fasting, at Bottala's Nurjahan Hotel.
They went to Samsuzzaman's house again from Bottala around 5:30am.
Two vehicles used by the CID had registration numbers Dhaka Metro Cha-56-2747 and Dhaka Metro J 74-0331 and no number plate was seen on the other vehicle.
A local journalist present at Samsuzzaman's house at the time said an officer, after the search and seizure, told them that he will be returned home after interrogation.
"They came back with Samsuzzaman after 45 minutes and went away with him again after 5-7 minutes."
A police officer called the owner of that house while picking him up.
The police told him that there is an objection against Samsuzzaman for one of his reports. He is being picked up for interrogation.
Sudipta Shaheen told the daily Prothom Alo: "I did not know about this before. I was contacted by the police at 1:30am. Samsuzzaman's sister-in-law is our university officer; they took me to Samsuzzaman's house with that identity.”
Meanwhile, Ashulia police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) SM Kamruzzaman told the newspaper that he does not know anything about this yet. They did not arrest anyone.
Dhaka Superintendent of Police said he had no information about the journalist's arrest.
CID Dhaka Division Deputy Inspector General Imam Hossain said that Dhaka division's CID is under his responsibility. No one from his department went to arrest Samsuzzaman.
Controversy
The Prothom Alo reporter spoke to people including a child named Shobuj on March 25, on the eve of Independence Day, and submitted a report on people's suffering due to price hikes. The report was published on March 26.
The news drew criticism as the newspaper used the child's photo with a quote from a 40-year-old labourer named Zakir, identifying the child as Zakir and not Shobuj.
Prothom Alo withdrew the report within around half an hour and issued a correction later in the day, saying there was an inconsistency between the headline and the accompanying photo. Alongside the news item, the newspaper had also posted a poster on its social media handle.
