Rajiv Sharma, general secretary of Dhubri Press Club and a regional correspondent for a vernacular news channel, was arrested in connection with an extortion case at around 2 am from his house, where he lived with his 64-year-old father, Sudhin Sharma.

The journalist had exposed cattle smuggling scams through a series of reports.

After the local police arrested him early on July 17, his father died due to a cardiac arrest. With no one around, Sudhin died alone in his residence.

The journalist was granted an interim bail the same morning and found his father dead when he returned to his residence. Rajiv performed the last rites of his father at Gauripur cremation ground on Thursday evening.

Soon after the arrest Assam’s Dhubri’s police chief, Yuvraj, was transferred, through an official notification from the state Home Affairs department. The police were severely slammed for the incident.

The Guwahati Press Club termed the incident unfortunate and has demanded intervention of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

‘We want the CM to intervene and ensure that Mr Sharma is not harassed in the name of investigation,’ president Manoj Kumar Nath and secretary Sanjay Ray of the press club said in a statement.

Dhubri divisional forest officer (DFO), Biswajit Roy, had alleged that Rajiv had tried to extort Rs 8 lakh from him cased on fabricated news regarding his alleged involvement in a cattle smuggling case.

The Assam Police have transferred the case to the state Criminal Investigation Department.

Also Read: Bengaluru: Unable To Get Ambulance, COVID-19 Positive Man Walks 4 Km To CM’s Residence