Bangladesh's emergency government Thursday shut down the country's only 24-hour private news channel, officials said, just weeks after it was warned against airing "provocative" news during last month's nation-wide student unrest.
Security forces along with three officials of the country's telecom regulator shut down the CSB News Channel at 6.34 pm (1234GMT), Focus multimedia, owner of the channel, said in a press statement.
"The channel has been accused of forgery by a government probe body. It faked the signature of a government official to get the frequency for telecasting," Abbas Faruq, spokesman of the government's telecom regulator, told AFP.
"The shutdown will continue until the CSB authorities give us a satisfactory reply to the allegation within seven working days," he added. CSB, which has been on the air since April, is Bangladesh's first 24-hour news channel. It's owner, an influential businessman and former lawmaker, has been detained as part of the government's anti-graft crackdown.
The shutdown, however, came just less than a fortnight after it was accused by the country's military-backed government of airing provocative news and breaching emergency rules during last month's student unrest. The government's information ministry warned the channel not to air any provocative news, video footage, documentary programmes or talk-show about the trouble.
The unrest began at Dhaka University where students demanded the army withdraw from the campus. It spread across main cities of the country, leaving at least one dead and dozens injured.
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