Dilwar Hussain Mozumdar, a journalist with a digital media outlet, The Cross Current, was granted bail on Friday evening in the second case lodged by the managing director of the Assam Co-operative Apex Bank Ltd where he had gone to cover a protest against alleged financial irregularities in the bank staged by the Assam Jatiya Parishad’s (AJP) youth wing.

The MD of the bank, D. Saikia, in a police complaint had accused Mozumdar of trespassing and attempting to steal official documents from the bank.

The CJM court had on Friday evening granted him bail but he had to spend the night in the Guwahati Central Jail since bail formalities could not be completed in time.

Hours before he was granted bail, Mozumdar’s house was searched twice, fanning speculation about the police slapping a third case against him.

Mozumdar’s counsel, A.S. Tapadar, told The Telegraph: “Dilwar was finally released from the central jail today at 6.30pm. His arrest was a blatant example of police high-handedness, arbitrary and illegal detention. This disturbing trend of police overreach is transforming Assam into a police state, undermining democratic principles and threatening the fundamental rights of citizens.”

Mozumdar was first arrested for criminal intimidation under the stringent Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly passing derogatory remarks against the security guard of the bank. He got bail on Wednesday but had to spend the night in judicial custody because bail formalities could not be completed.

Mozumdar was re-arrested on Thursday, this time on a complaint filed by the MD of the bank.

He broke down while finally stepping out on Saturday but soon regained his composure to say: “My duty (as a journalist) is to ask questions and I will continue to do so in the future notwithstanding the challenges. I also want to urge everyone to have faith in me. I have not done anything unethical and illegal in the past nor will I do such things in the future.”

Mozumdar also took the opportunity to thank the media fraternity, his lawyers and the public for standing by him during his five-day ordeal during which chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had questioned his credentials as a journalist.

Mozumdar was detained for nearly 11 hours before being arrested on Tuesday.

His arrest had triggered protests across the state. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah and leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, have hit out at the state administration over the development.