Journalist Rajib Ghosh Released at Midnight on Bond; Iqbal Sobhan Shown Arrested in Jatrabari Murder Case

Detectives (DB) have released Rajib Ghosh, special correspondent of television channel DBC, at midnight after taking him from the channel's Mohakhali office. At the same time, the DB says Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, the channel's former chairman and information adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was also taken to the DB office, is being shown arrested in a murder case from July.

Additional Commissioner (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Shafikul Islam gave the information at around 12:45am on Wednesday night. He said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury had been shown arrested in a murder case filed with Jatrabari police station on 26 August 2024. Rajib Ghosh, he said, was released on a bond after questioning found nothing against him.

Earlier, at around 3:30pm on Wednesday, DB chief Shafikul Islam had confirmed that Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury was taken to the DB office. He said at the time that an unwanted situation had arisen after Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury went to the office in the afternoon, and that to avoid that situation he had been brought to the DB office, along with one other person, and that they were being spoken to.

Sources linked to DBC News said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury was the institution's chairman before the fall of the Awami League government and was later removed. He still visited the institution from time to time. On Wednesday afternoon he came to the office and claimed himself to be the chairman of DBC News. At one point, when he left the office at around 3pm, DB police members detained him and took him away. Rajib Ghosh was also taken by DB police members at that time.

DBC News assignment editor Muktadir Anik said at night that he had not been present when Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury came to the office. When he arrived at the office at around 2pm, he saw him being taken away in a DB vehicle. He said they too did not know clearly why he was being taken away.

On Rajib Ghosh being taken, Muktadir Anik said DB police members stated at the time that he was being taken to have tea with them, and nothing else. He too was taken from the road beside the office.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed spoke about Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury's detention on Wednesday afternoon at the Secretariat, after an inter-ministerial meeting on reviewing the draft Cyber Security (Amendment) Act. He said that if he had been detained, necessary legal steps were being taken because there was a specific allegation against him, and that the matter would be examined in accordance with the law.