HC orders fresh probe against PWD ex-chief engineer, wife

The High Court on Tuesday ordered authorities concerned to probe the allegations of amassing illegal wealth by former chief engineer of Public Works Department Ashraful Alam and his wife, afresh through a new investigation officer.

A High Court division bench comprising Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo passed the order while disposing of a suo moto rule with direction and observation.

The court came up with the order as Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) pleaded to take action against a reporter for making a report over allegations against the graft body for exempting the culprit.

During the hearing, the court said, "This is not a case of contempt of court. If anyone has any allegation against any journalist, he can go to Press Council. We never wanted to know about the news source of the newsmen."

The High Court had issued the rule on suo-moto as the March 2 report was brought to the attention of the court. The court had asked for the documents from the ACC and also directed the journalist to assist the court with
his information.

During the hearing on the matter, ACC counsel Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan pleaded to take action against the concerned reporter, terming the report as "mafia journalism."