Journalist Raghunath Kha released on bail
Journalist Raghunath Kha, arrested on charges of sabotage and extortion in Satkhira, has been released on bail this evening.
Satkhira Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Md Ziaul Islam granted his bail earlier today when police submitted the investigation report, reports a local correspondent quoting Court Inspector Ahmed Anwarul.
Raghunath, Satkhira correspondent of the private broadcaster Deepto TV and newspaper Dainik Projonmo Ekattor, was detained by plainclothes police around 11:00am on January 23, claimed family members.
However, Sheikh Obaidullah, officer-in-charge (OC) of Debhata Police Station, said based on a secret information of a sabotage by some miscreants, police went to Sapmara bridge area and arrested Raghunath Kha and two others while they were trying to escape after exploding crude bombs on January 23 around 5:45pm.
On the same day, ASI Lalchand filed a case against the three arrestees and 20-25 others under the Explosives Act and Special Powers Act. Another case, under the Extortion Act, was also filed against them by one Kazi Suruz Wares of Shimulia village in the upazila, the OC said.
Raghunath's wife Supriya Rani Kha on January 23, however, said that her husband went to Khalishakhali area of Debhata upazila on January 23 morning to collect news.
Men in plain clothes, identifying themselves as law enforcers, picked him up around 11:00am when he was returning home on a rented motorcycle from there, she said.
Condemning the arrest of Raghunatha, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had issued a statement, where it said "Kha was detained after reporting on a land dispute in Khalishakhali area of the southwestern Satkhira district,"
In a statement issued on Thursday night, the international rights organisation alleged that Raghunath was electrocuted and beaten up in police custody.
The journalist was reporting on a land dispute between the landless people and other quarters over 1,320 bighas of land, which is reportedly government-owned khas land.