Assam journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder was arrested in another case on Thursday, after he was granted bail following his arrest after he questioned the MD of a cooperative bank over alleged financial irregularities here on March 25, officials said.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that he is not a journalist as the government recognises as so only those from the print and electronic media.
The chief reporter of the digital portal 'The Cross Current', who is also the Assistant General Secretary of the Gauhati Press Club, was rearrested on the charge of attempting to steal valuable bank documents, officials said.
Officials said a complaint in this regard was made by the Managing Director of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank Limited Dambaru Saikia on March 25, the day Mojumder questioned him. However, it was not disclosed to his family and lawyers earlier.
The complainant had alleged that when the bank employees noticed the accused, they raised an alarm, causing Mojumder to flee.
According to the complaint, the accused disturbed the bank's operations, threatened the employees, and made caste-based derogatory remarks towards a security guard, who belongs to the ST community, and a case was registered in the Panbazar police station for criminal trespass, mischief causing loss or damage, criminal intimidation and robbery.
Mozumder was initially arrested on Tuesday midnight after being detained for over nine hours by the police after he had questioned the MD about alleged financial irregularities in the bank during the protest by the students' wing of a political party.
In the first case, the journalist was charged with Section 351(2) of the BNS for criminal intimidation or the act of threatening someone to harm them or force them to do something, read with several sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Mojumder was granted bail by the court of the Kamrup additional chief judicial magistrate on Wednesday evening for a surety of Rs 20,000. But he was not released the same day as the formalities could not be completed and he was sent to judicial custody.
His lawyers waited the whole day on Thursday to complete the formalities for his release but when the bond was furnished, the police rearrested Mozumder in connection with the second case and whisked him away from Guwahati Central Jail to Panbazar police station.
Meanwhile, the chief minister at a press conference here said that Mojumder ''is not a recognised journalist as the government only gives identity cards to journalists of print and electronic media''.
''Nobody has been arrested for writing in the state. Journalists write against me all the time but they have not been arrested,'' Sarma claimed.
It is yet to be established whether ''he is a businessman or a part-time journalist,'' he added.
The journalist was summoned to the Panbazar police station on Tuesday afternoon after he questioned Saikia.
The incident occurred when Jatiya Yuva Shakti (JYS), the youth wing of the opposition Assam Jatiya Parishad, staged a dharna in front of the bank to protest alleged financial irregularities.
Mozumder, who also filed a complaint with the police which is yet to be registered, alleged that the video recording of the protest was deleted inside Saikia's chamber and the MD had also asked him to ensure that the protests be stopped.
The journalist claimed that he pointed out that it was not possible for him to stop the protest as he was present at the venue to cover the event and was not associated with the protestors.
The journalist's arrest had led to widespread protests by media persons across the state while opposition political parties Congress, Raijor Dal and the Assam Jatiya Parishad have condemned Mozumder's arrest and demanded his immediate release.
The Press Club of India, Editors' Guild of India, Gauhati Press Club and the Assam Women Journalists' Forum have also condemned the arrest.
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