Assam govt orders CID probe into journalist arrest case; transfers SP, forest officer

Drawing flak from different quarters, the Assam government, on Saturday, instituted a CID probe into the case related to the arrest of a television journalist in Dhubri district, following which his father suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

The state government also transferred Dhubri SP, Yuvraj and divisional forest officer (DFO), Dhubri, Biswajit Roy immediately on Friday. The state police also asked the vigilance and anti-corruption branch to investigate the allegations against Roy.

The journalist, Rajiv Sharma was arrested after DFO lodged an FIR on Wednesday alleging that Sharma had demanded Rs 3 lakh for hushing up a news report alleging his nexus with cattle and timber smugglers. Rajiv denied the allegations saying the DFO levelled false allegations as he refused his offer of Rs. 10,000 to hush up his news reports alleging his nexus with cattle and timber smugglers.

Rajiv Sharma, Dhubri correspondent of DY365, a Guwahati-based news channel was arrested at 2 am on Thursday from his rented house at Gauripur town. Soon after his arrest, Rajiv's ailing father suffered a cardiac arrest and died. Rajiv said he had requested the police team not to arrest him immediately as his father was seriously ill but police did not listen.

"We are happy that prompt action has been initiated against the DFO and police but can anyone bring back Rajiv's father? Police should have acted a bit responsibly when they found that his father was seriously ill. Rajiv told the police that he would go to the police station in the morning but they did not listen. He is not a hardcore criminal and is a responsible journalist known to police for a long time. Why was the police in so hurry in this case? We have seen many FIRs with more serious allegations lying in police stations for months without any action," said a journalist in Dhubri.

The Additional Director General of Police, G P Singh, who visited Dhubri on Friday told reporters that the state police also decided to set up a special investigation team to probe into the allegations against Dhubri police, which appeared in media reports too.

The action comes after journalists' bodies like Guwahati Press Club and both opposition Congress and ruling BJP sought Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's intervention into the case. Rajiv was granted interim bail on Thursday for three days owing to his father's demise.