A Tk 1 crore defamation case was filed yesterday with a Comilla court against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for saying that the prime minister's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy has US$300 million in a bank account.

Shariful Alam Chowdhury, president of Muradnagar upazila committee of Amra Muktijoddhar Santan, filed the case, reports a correspondent from Comilla.

Senior Judicial Magistrate of Comilla Fahad Bin Amin Chowdhury took the case into cognisance and directed the district information officer to submit a probe report by June 2.

The plaintiff's lawyer, ST Ahmed Foysal, said that his client became angry and shocked over the BNP chief's comments.

The BNP chief alleged at a May Day rally in the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan that Shafik Rehman as a journalist had gathered the information. “But he neither disclosed the information nor wrote anything on it. You [people] couldn't have known about Tk 2,500 crore had he not been arrested.”

The government arrested Rehman on “false charges” of his involvement in a plot to abduct and kill Joy, said Khaleda. “Now they are also implicating Amar Desh [acting] Editor Mahmudur Rahman.”

She demanded to release the two journalists and arrest Joy to grill him over the “laundered” money.

Senior Information Officer of the court Mir Ahsanul Kabir said he had not received the copy of the order. “After receiving it, I will work as per the court's directives,” he said.

Complainant Shariful Alam Chowdhury said the PM's son Joy is an information technology expert and Khaleda Zia's comments about him were not acceptable.