Md. Rezanur Islam, acting editor of the daily Agrajatra Pratidin, was arrested on June 18, 2026, by Bogura district police in Gazipur following the newspaper's reporting on alleged corruption by state Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam. Islam was granted bail on June 21.
Police charged Islam and five other Agrajatra Pratidin journalists — publisher and editor Mehedi Hasan, news editor Ashraf Ali Faruqi, reporter Saleh Kaisar, and two Bogura correspondents —under the Cyber Security Act 2026, as well as with criminal defamation, extortion, and criminal intimidation, according to a copy of the police case file reviewed by CPJ.
The criminal complaint, filed by Bogura Press Club Treasurer Tanvir Alam Rimon on June 15, accuses the journalists of false and defamatory reporting and alleges that Islam tried to extort 2 million taka (US$16,400) from Rimon and Alam.
Alam expressed regret about the arrest and said no one should pursue legal action on his behalf.
Police have said that efforts to arrest the other journalists named in the complaint are ongoing.
The Bogura superintendent of police and the deputy press secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office for comment but did not receive a response.