Cox’s Bazar, July 2 (V7N) — Shahjahan Chowdhury, President of the Cox’s Bazar District unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and former Member of Parliament, has filed a defamation case under the Cyber Security Ordinance 2025 against five individuals, alleging a smear campaign on social media.

The case was lodged at the Chattogram Cyber Tribunal on Wednesday afternoon. According to Advocate Somi Uddin, legal counsel for the plaintiff, the court has accepted the case under Section 25 of the 2025 Cyber Security Ordinance and instructed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to carry out an immediate investigation.

The accused in the case are: Mehedi Hasan Palash, a reporter for the online platform “Digital Agragati”; Sultan Ahmad and Iman Hossain, residents of the Shabrang Union in Teknaf; and Khan Moin Uddin and Fahim Hasan Sadik, also affiliated with the same digital outlet.

According to the plaintiff's lawyer, the accused had allegedly been extorting money from Shahjahan Chowdhury. Upon his refusal to comply, they reportedly published a defamatory and false news item on the Facebook page of Digital Agragati on June 4. The report claimed that following a supposed fall of the current government on August 5, Shahjahan Chowdhury would rehabilitate Awami League leaders and profit hundreds of crores of taka through such deals.

The article cited fabricated interviews with Sultan Ahmad and Iman Hossain to support its claims, according to the legal complaint.

Advocate Somi Uddin further stated that the individuals mentioned in the article as being financially exploited by Shahjahan Chowdhury have no personal or financial relationship with the BNP leader. He claimed the news was entirely false and was published with malicious intent to defame both the BNP and Shahjahan Chowdhury.

The court has directed the PBI to submit an investigation report within a stipulated timeframe after verifying the facts of the complaint.

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