The Bangladesh Army on Tuesday dismissed a report by India Today as “false and fabricated information”, according to the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

The article, “Bangladesh army holds emergency meeting amid possibility of coup against Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus”, was described as a “glaring example of journalistic malpractice and the decline of a once-reputed news outlet into a purveyor of disinformation”.

The headline has been updated to say “Coup in Bangladesh against Yunus? Army holds emergency meeting”.

“It has come to the attention of the Bangladesh Army that India Today has once again published a report based on false and fabricated information regarding a routine meeting held by the Bangladesh Army,” the news agency quoted a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the country’s armed forces, as saying.

“It is deeply troubling that India Today continues to publish sensationalist narratives without due diligence or a responsible commitment to journalistic integrity,” the Army added in its statement.

On March 13, the Bangladeshi government had said that news reports by some Indian media outlets claiming instability in the Bangladesh Army were “baseless” and “deeply irresponsible”.

Outlets like India Today, The Economic Times and others had reported that Lieutenant General Faizur Rahman, who is a quartermaster general, purportedly made moves to stage a coup to replace General Waqar-uz-Zaman as the country’s Army chief.

Rahman had been put under surveillance because of his actions, the reports claimed.

“The recent spate of unfounded stories in certain Indian media outlets, such as The Economic Times, India Today, and others, alleging coups or instability within the Bangladesh Army, is not only baseless but also deeply irresponsible,” Yunus had said. “Such disinformation campaigns undermine the principles of interference and severely diminish respect while also eroding the credibility of the media outlets involved.”

Yunus, a Nobel laureate economist, took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on August 8.

This came after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power and fled to India on August 5 amid widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been the prime minister of Bangladesh for 16 years.

Diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Dhaka have been strained since Hasina fled to India, after which incidents of violence against religious minorities were reported in several parts of Bangladesh.

Earlier this month, Dhaka said it had sent “formal letters” requesting New Delhi to extradite Hasina but received “no official response” in the matter.