A case alleging extortion and defamation has been filed against Saifur Rahman (Saifur Sagar), editor and publisher of the online news portal ‘Face the People’, and its reporter Mohammad Yusuf.

A Dhaka court has directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the matter and instructed the agency to submit its report by August 10.

On July 5, Md Kamruzzaman, Chief Executive Officer of the Mastul Foundation, lodged the complaint. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibuzzaman assigned the PBI to carry out the investigation.

According to the complaint, the two accused visited the Mastul Foundation office in connection with publishing reports on the ‘Face the People’ portal.

The complaint alleges that they demanded BDT 20,000 to publish a report, BDT 15,000 for publishing a press release on behalf of the foundation, and a monthly payment of BDT 50,000 for continued coverage of the organization’s activities.

However, when the foundation refused to pay, the accused threatened to damage the reputation of the Mastul Foundation.

Md Kamruzzaman further alleged that on June 28, ‘Face the People’ published a report that defamed the foundation, causing an estimated financial loss of BDT 20 crore for the organization.

It is worth noting that Saifur Rahman (Saifur Sagar) has previously faced allegations of extortion and defamation for publishing misinformation against various individuals and businesspersons using his online portal.