UP Police Arrests Journalist For Publishing 'Defamatory' Story Against BJP MP Atul Garg

The editor of Aap Abhi Tak, Imran Khan, was charged with publishing the allegedly defamatory news and was arrested on Saturday.

Representational Image | Newspaper editor arrested for publishing allegedly defamatory story against BJP MP Atul Garg.

Source : ABPLIVE AI

A local newspaper's editor was apprehended for publishing an allegedly defamatory story against BJP MP Atul Garg, police said on Monday, news agency PTI reported.

On October 6, BJP MP from Ghaziabad, Garg, filed a police complaint against Congress leader Dolly Sharma, accusing her of defaming him during this year’s Lok Sabha election campaign.

Garg claimed that Sharma, his opponent in the election, damaged his reputation by labelling him as part of the “land mafia.” The editor of Aap Abhi Tak, Imran Khan, was charged with publishing the allegedly defamatory news and was arrested on Saturday.

Sharma accused Garg of illegally occupying 31,000 square metres of government land on which he built a housing society. She claimed to have documents to support her allegation, which were shared by some local newspapers and websites.

Meanwhile, a group of local journalists submitted to district magistrate Indra Vikram Singh a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in which they alleged that police had acted under pressure. 

Gujarat Police File Theft Case Against Senior Journalist

A cheating case has been filed against Gujarat-based senior journalist Mahesh Langa, who is already in jail in connection with an alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam, for reportedly defrauding a businessman of Rs 28.68 lakh, a senior official said on Tuesday (October 29).

According to a report by News 18, this is the third First Information Report (FIR) against Langa since his arrest earlier this month by Ahmedabad police’s crime branch over the GST scam.

On October 23, Gandhinagar police lodged a second FIR against him after finding “incriminating” documents related to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) during raids, stated Ahmedabad Police Commissioner GS Malik.

Langa, formerly employed with a prominent newspaper in Gujarat, was moved to judicial custody two weeks ago following the conclusion of his police remand in the GST fraud case.

In response, Congress leader Jiaram Ramesh said this move was a “brazen assault on democratic freedoms”.