A ruling Awami League MP on Tuesday sued Bangla newspapers Prothom Alo, Jugantor, Shamakal and Manabjamin for Tk 100 crore in damages for running reports that 'defamed him'. Golam Mowla Ronnie, MP for Pathuakhaliu-3, filed the case with a Dhaka court. The third joint district judge S M Saiful Islam heard him and ordered the accused to cite the reasons in three weeks.

The 11 accused in the cases were Prothom Alo editor and publisher Matiur Rahman, Jugantor editor and publisher Salma Islam, its executive editor Saiful Islam and Barisal bureau chief Akhter Faruk Shahin, Shamakal editor Golam Sarwar, Shamakal publisher A K Azad, its Putuakhali correspondent Mufti Salahuddin, Manabjamin chief editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, editor and publisher Mahbuba Chowdhury, and reporters Abu Zafar and Zia Shahin.

Rony prayed to the court for an injunction on the accused on releasing 'defamatory news'. The petition mentioned news against Ronnie in Prothom Alo, Jagantor, Shamakal and Manabjamin on Sep17, Oct 3, Oct 11 and Sep 15 respectively. The case appeal said that the series of invented news released in the national dailies defamed him as a public representative and damaged his political and business reputation.

-bdnews