A defamation case was filed against National Citizen Party chief organiser for the northern region Sarjis Alam with a Gazipur court on Tuesday on allegations of spreading misinformation about the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The leader of the newly formed party allegedly spread misinformation by linking the BNP to the August 7 murder of journalist Asaduzzaman Tuhin in Gazipur.
BNP Gazipur city鈥檚 Bason Thana unit president Tanvir Siraj filed the case with the court of Gazipur additional chief metropolitan-2 Alamgir Al Mamun, said plaintiff lawyer Siddiqur Rahman.
鈥楩ollowing a hearing, the judge took the case into cognisance and ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to probe it,鈥� said Siddiqur, adding that the court did not give any time frame for the report submission.
The plaintiff Tanvir said that journalist Tuhin was murdered for filming videos of a crime gang, but the NCP leader Sarjis was spreading rumours linking the BNP to the incident through posts on his Facebook account.
鈥業t has tarnished the party image. The Gazipur metropolitan police has already revealed the actual cause of the murder and arrested eight suspects in a case filed over the murder. Police also said that it did not find any political involvement in the murder incident,鈥� Tanvir said.
Tanvir also said that he filed the case after consulting with senior party leaders and wanted justice.
Hours after Tuhin鈥檚 murder on August 7, Sarjis wrote on his verified Facebook account that BNP activists hit a journalist named Anwar in the head with bricks for reporting on extortion against a BNP leader in the noon.
Later at night, Daily Pratidiner Kagoj journalist Tuhin was hacked by muggers to death at a tea stall in Chandana Chowrasta area, said Sarjis, adding that Anwar and Tuhin were friends.
Tuhin, 38, was hacked to death near Eidgah Market in Chandana Chowrasta area under the Bason police station in Gazipur city reportedly for filming 鈥榓 honey-trap scheme鈥� by a local miscreant group, according to police.
On Tuesday, the Rapid Action Battalion-1 arrested a man named Rafiqul Islam Arman from the capital鈥檚 airport area in this connection, said a RAB press release.
It said that Rafiqul was directly involved in Tuhin鈥檚 murder.
With this, members of the law enforcement agencies have so far arrested nine people in connection with the murder case filed with the Bason police station on August 8.