The editor of the daily Janakantha, Atiqullah Khan Masud, was cleared of fraud charges yesterday after he settled the dispute out of court.
Masud, however, is unlikely to get released from prison as he faces some other criminal cases.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shah Alam Sardar acquitted Masud, also the chairman of Globe Constructions Ltd, after the complainant, Rebeka Mahmud, told the court that the Janakantha editor has paid her the money for which she sued him.
Rebeka in her case statement complained that she handed in Tk 9.77 lakh to the Globe Constructions chief for an apartment which he never handed over to her, adding that Masud did not return the money either.
The Janakantha editor has been behind bars after the joint forces arrested him in February.