The government today withdrew a case filed against Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of online news portal bdnews24.com, in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Judge Mohammad Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court issued the order after the ACC submitted an application seeking withdrawal of prosecution of the case under Section 494 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, said ACC Public Prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir told The Daily Star.

The judge also relieved Khalidi from the charges of the case.

Earlier in the day, the anti-graft watchdog approved the withdrawal of the prosecution in the case after scrutinising an application submitted by the investigating officer and other case records.

On April 28 this year, ACC Deputy Director Gulshan Anowar, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted a charge sheet against the editor.

On July 30, 2020, ACC filed a case against Khalidi on charges of acquiring wealth beyond his known sources of income.

According to the case documents, Khalidi possesses Tk42 crore in four accounts with HSBC, Eastern Bank, Southeast Bank and Mutual Trust Bank, for which the ACC said no legal source was found.

On November 5, 2019, Khalidi was served with a summons to appear before the ACC over an investigation into "inconsistencies" over his wealth.

The notice said that his statement was required in connection with allegations of "transferring a huge amount of money" by "hiding location" by himself and bdnews24.com, and "earning wealth inconsistent with his known income through illegal activities."

On November 26, 2019, the commission quizzed Khalidi for nearly five hours at its Dhaka headquarters.

The bdnews24.com editor, however, has denied the allegations.