Sivasagar journalist arrested for alleged Rs 6-lakh deal with crude oil thieves
All three were sent to jail after being produced before court, sparking sensation in the town.
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Sivasagar, Sept 2: Ashrafur Rahman, a web media news reporter associated with The Truth, and E News NE, was arrested by the Sivasagar police on Saturday night, reportedly on charges of taking Rs 6 lakh from two notorious crude oil thieves named Jalil Ahmed and Hamid Ali.
A case has been registered at the Sivasagar Sadar PS (no. 119/25 u/s 62(2), 305(C), 287,288, 125(B), BNS 23 of Indian Petroleum Act, and additional charges under the ES Act of BNS 2/3/4 and EC Act Sec 07).
The arrest of the reporter has caused considerable sensation among the people of the town. Interestingly, some media representatives here have preferred to hide the name of the reporter concerned and published only the names of the crude oil thieves, for reasons known to them.
Earlier, Jalil Ahmed and Hamid Ali were arrested in Tingrai, Tinsukia, by a police team from Sivasagar led by IBI inspector Utpal Dutta and Jyotisman Bora, OC of the Jaysagar PS, on August 29. All the three arrested persons were later sent to jail after being produced before the judicial magistrate, Sivasagar. Ashrafur was sent to two days in police custody and he will be produced in the court again on Tuesday.
Formerly, Ashrafur Rahman was the Sivasagar correspondent of the Assamese daily Niyamiya Barta, but was dropped by the newspaper's management a couple of months back.
Jalil Ahmed and Hamid Ali were on the run for 22 days to evade arrest following an incident on August 9 at their secret crude oil depot in Bogidoul Singhaduwar, in which two people were seriously injured.
The two crude oil thieves later openly told the media that Ashrafur had taken Rs 6 lakh from them to 'manage' the media following the incident in Bogidoul.