Police have arrested Pradip Chowdhury, the president of the Khagrachari Journalist Union and a district correspondent for the daily Samakal.
He was taken into custody this afternoon from near the Khagrachari Sadar police station.
Pradip was returning home from an event in the Milonpur area when police arrested him and brought him to the station, according to sources.
Following the political shift on August 5, five separate cases have been filed against him at Khagrachari Sadar, Manikchhari, Panchhari, and Dighinala police stations.
Among these, four cases were filed by BNP leaders and activists, accusing him of various offenses including attacks on BNP leaders and vandalism of BNP offices.
He has also been named in a case related to a clash with anti-discrimination student protesters on August 4.
Pradip Chowdhury has been serving as the president of the Khagrachari Journalist Union and as a district correspondent for both the daily Samakal and Suprabhat Bangladesh for many years. He is also the president of the local chapter of the Safe Roads Movement and the Khagrachari Environmental Protection Movement.
It is noteworthy that six other journalists from Khagrachari have also been implicated in these cases.
Journalists from Khagrachari, Rangamati, and Bandarban have expressed strong condemnation and protest against Pradip Chowdhury's arrest, demanding his immediate release in a statement, and urging that no journalist be arrested without proper investigation.
