Presenter Farzana Brownia has filed a fraud and extortion case against Shykh Seraj, the Chief News Editor of Channel I, and four others on charges of fraud.
The case was filed on Wednesday in the court of Dhaka's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibul Haque. The court recorded the complainant's statement and ordered the CID police to investigate the allegations and submit a report.
The matter was confirmed to The Bangladesh Post by Bench Assistant Shishir Halder of the concerned court.
The other accused in the case are Awami League leader Zahid Uddin Mahmud Mamun, Mukit Majumdar Babu, Abdur Rashid Majumdar Parvez, and Riaz Ahmed Khan.
According to the complaint, the complainant joined Channel I as a Manager of Marketing (Event) with a monthly salary of BDT 100,000. Since 2014, she has been successfully hosting and directing a programme called "Swarnokishori.". In 2018, she was banned from the organisation without notice after speaking in favour of the students during the quota reform movement.
When she protested verbally, the accused informed her that until she was officially terminated in writing, she would continue to receive her monthly wages. Based on this, she was entitled to a total of BDT 79 lakh for the period from October 2018 to September 2024.
The complaint further states that Shykh Seraj and the others conspired to misappropriate her due payments without paying her rightful amount. Despite repeatedly sending notices through her lawyer demanding her dues, the accused did not respond but instead threatened her and demanded a ransom of Tk 50 crore from her.
