Police arrested the editor of a local daily and the local correspondent of a television channel in an extortion case last night.
The police picked up Sazedur Rahman Bablu, editor of the daily Hawa, and Nazrul Islam Mukul, Kushtia correspondent of CSB News, during a raid on the newspaper's office at about 8:15pm.
The daily Hawa is owned by Syed Mehedi Ahmed Rumi, a former lawmaker and general secretary of Kushtia BNP.
The police said Zillur Rahman, news editor of the Arshinagar, another local daily, filed a case against four people -- Bablu, Mukul, Rumi and Jalal -- on June 19, accusing them of demanding money and ransacking the Arshinagar office in November 2005.
In the case filed with a magistrate's court, Zillur said the Arshinagar published a story against Rumi on November 18, 2005. On that day, Rumi called the Arshinagar Editor Rashedul Islam Biplob and demanded Tk 50,000. As the editor refused to pay, Rumi threatened him.
The next day a gang led by Bablu, Mukul and Jalal stormed into the Arshinagar office and looked for Biplob, said Zillur. The gang also demanded Tk 50,000 in tolls and beat up Zillur and other journalists and staffs.
Biplob was in Dhaka at that time.
The gang ransacked the office and asked all the journalists to leave the district and threatened them, Zillur said.
He added that Biplob went to Sadar Police Station on November 20, 2005 to file a case, but the police did not register it in fear of Rumi, who was an influential leader of the then ruling BNP.
When contacted, Second Officer of Sadar Police Station Sazzad Hossain confirmed the arrest.
