Khulna
Khulna 8th-grader found hanging in classroom day after he was reported missing
An eighth-grade boy was found hanging from the fan of his classroom in Khulna's Dumuria upazila early Friday, the day after he was reported missing, police said.
Six people were detained in connection with the incident.
Nirob Mandal, 14, from Gutudiya village of the upazila, was a student of Gutudiya Secondary High School.
Locals and police said Nirob did not return home after attending school Thursday morning.
Family members looked for him everywhere but could not find any trace of him.
An anonymous person called Nirob's father Shekhar Mandal over the phone and demanded Tk30 lakh as ransom in the afternoon, they said.
After that, Shekhar Mandal lodged a general diary at the police station.
Read more: Islamic Foundation employee strangled to death in Ctg, wife detained
Sheikh Kony Miah, officer-in-charge (OC) of Dumuria Police Station, said on information they found the body hanging inside a classroom around 1am. However, he did not say how they were tipped off to the classroom.
"It was assumed that Nirob's body was hung from the ceiling fan after he was strangled to death. The body was sent to Khulna Medical College Hospital for autopsy," the OC added.
2 detained with 15 gold bars in Khulna
Two males were detained with 15 gold bars from Zero Point of Khulna city on Saturday, police said.
The detainees—Emon and Abul Hossain are from Chattogram and Cumilla.
Enamul Hoque, officer-in-charge of Labanchara police station, said they challenged the duo following their suspicious movement in the Zero Point area in the noon while they got off a bus.
Later, a total of 15 gold bars were recovered from the possession of the detainees, he said.
Read more: 30 gold bars recovered from airport dustbin
During the primary interrogation, the duo admitted that they were heading towards the India border in Satkhira to smuggle, the OC said.
A process is underway to take legal action against the detainees, he added.
66 BNP men sent to jail in 3 sabotage cases in Khulna
A Khulna court on Wednesday sent 66 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) including the party’s Khulna city unit member secretary Shafiqul Alam Tuhin to jail in three sabotage cases.
Khulna Additional Metropolitan and Sessions Judge SM Ashiqur Rahman passed the order turning down their bail pleas, BNP’s counsel Lawyer Touhidur Rahman Tushar told UNB.
Read more: Simultaneous Movement: BNP rally begins at Dhaka’s Nayapaltan
Khulna Metropolitan BNP convenor Shafiqul Alam Mona alleged that the police filed a case in every police station in Khulna on charges of sabotage to thwart BNP's divisional rally in Dhaka on December 10.
In these cases, about 50 leaders and activists were arrested and imprisoned for a long time while others secured six weeks' anticipatory bail from the High Court.
Meanwhile, hundreds of leaders and activists of BNP and affiliated organisations present on the court premises became agitated following the court order.
Read more: Tenth-grader in Ctg jail after getting picked up at BNP rally
They brought out a procession demanding withdrawal of the ‘false and fabricated cases’, unconditional release of their activists and resignation of the illegal government.
BPL 2023: Khulna break the deadlock to register first win
Khulna Tigers have finally claimed their first victory in the current season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), coming to their fourth match.
They secured a dominant victory against Rangpur Riders on Tuesday in Chattogram, as Tamim Iqbal scored an unbeaten 60. Following the match, Khulna's captain Yasir Ali expressed relief upon the team's success.
Read more: BPL 2023: Comilla break out of cycle of defeat in fourth match
Khulna won the toss and opted to bowl first in this match.
The Riders were restricted to 129 for all wickets in 20 overs, courtesy of a well-executed bowling effort by the opposition. Unfortunately, they lost their opener Rony Talukdar in the first over, causing an early setback.
However, Parvez Hossain Emon and Mahedi Hasan managed to recover with respective scores of 25 and 38, limiting the damage and keeping the Riders in the game.
But the other batter down the order failed to do well. Captain Shoaib Malik scored a mere nine runs.
Wahab Riaz and Amad Butt scalped a combined total of seven wickets for Khulna, with Wahab claiming four and Amad bagging three.
Tamim responded impressively by notching up 60 off just 47 balls, including four fours and two sixes. Mahmudul Hasan Joy also performed admirably, contributing 38 runs to the total.
Read more: BPL 2023: Chattogram romp to easy win over Dhaka
Khulna reached the target in 18.2 overs.
The Riders' captain, Shoaib expressed his disappointment, saying that they had to score more runs to win the match, but they were unable to do so.
Missing woman’s body recovered after five days
Police recovered the body of a woman from a river near Putimari Bazar of Khulna’s Batiyaghata five days after she went missing.
The deceased was identified as Fatima Begum, 37, of Khulna.
According to police, Fatima Begum had been missing since January 7 when she went to NGO employee Tahmina’s house to collect Tk 4,000 owned.
Fatima’s family filed a general diary with the police station following her missing.
Meanwhile, NGO worker Tahmina and her husband were called to Khulna sadar police station to inquire about the disappearance of Fatima. At the one stage of interrogation, they admitted to killing Fatima Begum and gave a confessional statement. Their statements were recorded by Metropolitan Magistrate Tariqul Islam on Thursday.
Read more: Missing man’s body recovered a day after wife drowned in Padma river
Nimai Chandra Kundu, officer-in-charge of Khulna police station, said Tahmina, an employee of Nabolok NGO, took Tk 4,000 from the victim saying that she would get a loan of Tk 40,000 from the NGO. But she started an altercation with Fatima about the non-payment of the loan.
On January 7, Fatima went to Tahmina’s house in Daroga Para in the town to get Tk 4,000 back. But Tahmina started an altercation with Fatima and at one stage she hit Fatima’s head with a brick, killing her on the spot. Later, Tahmina and her husband wrapped the body with a plastic bag and threw it in the Putimari River, he added.
According to their confession, divers conducted a search drive into the river but her body was not found. Later, the locals saw the body floating and informed police and police recovered it.
Admitting their responsibility in the murder, the couple gave a statement under section 164 in the court. Later the court sent them to jail.
Read more: Body recovered from pond in Pabna’s Ishwardi
Scrap warehouse catches fire in Khulna
A fire broke out in a warehouse of jute scrap in Aronghata area in the district on Saturday noon.
Tanharul Islam, deputy director at Khulna divisional Fire Service and Civil Defence department, said on information seven firefighting units from several stations are working to tame the fire.
Read more: Over 100 shops gutted in Gazipur textile market fire
The origin of the fire could not be known immediately, he added.
Khulna struggles to cope with biting cold wave
Khulna Medical College Hospital is struggling to provide proper treatment to the rising number of cold-related patients, especially children and elderly as a mild cold wave is sweeping across Khulna division and other parts of the country.
All beds in the children's ward (Shishu Ward) of Khulna Medical College Hospital have been filled as the increasing number of patients suffering from various cold-related diseases gathers in the hospital every day.
“The number of patients, mostly children suffering from pneumonia, diarrhea and other cold-related diseases because of low temperature, come to the hospital every day,” said Dr Robiul Islam, director of Khulna Medical College Hospital.
Read: Kurigram shivers in cold wave
“Every day some 600 to 700 patients take treatment from the outdoor services of the hospital. Many patients need admission to hospital but we can’t admit them due to the shortage of beds. This crisis may continue throughout this month,” said Dr Md Kamurazzam, senior consultant of the hospital.
Meanwhile, the lowest temperature in the country was recorded at 9.0 degrees Celsius in Chuadanga, a district of Khulna division, in 24 hours till 6am today.
Road accidents in Khulna, Magura leave 3 dead
Three people were killed in road accidents in Khulna and Magura districts on Tuesday morning.
In Khulna, two people died in separate accidents that took place at Parchalna village of Chalna municipality in Dakope upazila and on Notun Rasta Mor area in the city.
According to locals, a woman died after being hit by a speeding motorcycle in front of her house at around 11 am at Parchalna village.
Read more: Bangladesh sees 9,951 road accident deaths in 2022, highest in 8yrs: Report
Parul Biswas, 60, was seriously injured and later died on the way to a hospital.
In another road accident at around 9 am motorcyclist Aksar, 26 was killed following a collision with a tank lorry in the city, said Kazi Kamal, officer-in-charge of Daulatpur Police Station.
The driver and helper of the tank lorry flee the scene immediately.
In Magura, Md Pappu, 19, a college student, was killed in a collision between two motorcycles in Sreepur upazila of the district.
Read more: Mother, daughter among 3 killed in Faridpur road crash
Officer-in-charge of the Sreepur police station Shukdev Roy said Pappuwas seriously injured following the collision.
Later he died at Faridpur Medical College and Hospital.
Counting tigers in Sundarbans: Forest Dept to set up 1,330 cameras under Khulna Range from Jan 1
Bangladesh Forest Department authorities will set up a total of 1,330 cameras at 665 spots in the Sundarbans, under Khulna Range – to count tigers, deer and pigs from January 1, 2023.
The Forest Department – under the ‘Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project’ involving Tk 3.27 crore – has started installing cameras on both sides of the canals under Kalabogi Forest Station of Khulna Range from December 15 and the count will start from January 1 next year.
Abu Naser, forest official of Sundarbans East zone and director of the project, said, “Apart from counting tigers, this year, the forest department will count deer and pigs as well under the project. They have divided the project into two categories – camera trapping and canal survey. Primarily, the survey along both sides of the canals in Sundarbans has started and through the process, the movement and pugmarks of tigers will be pointed out.”
Through the camera trapping process, the authorities concerned will take snaps for two years and later they will analyse the photos captured for the next two months, and after that they will figure out the numbers, he said.
Also read: Tiger population at risk in Sundarbans: 38 tigers died in 20 years in Bangladesh
A technical committee has already been formed and the committee decided to install cameras at 665 spots, he added. Of these, 200 will be set up in Satkhira Range, 140 in Khulna Range, 180 in Sharankhola and 145 in Chandpai Range, said Abu Naser.
Two cameras will be installed in each grid and a total of 1,330 cameras will be set up.
Asked about the number of tigers, the project director said, “The exact figure of tigers will be known after the census. Earlier, it was difficult for tourists to see any tiger during their Sundarbans visit but now, they can take photos of 3-4 tigers which indicates that the number might have increased.”
The tiger census will be conducted in and outside the wildlife sanctuary and the authorities concerned will conduct the survey in the less, more and most saline areas of the Sundarbans, he said.
Also read: Sundarban tigers: Inbreeding leads to generation of weak, diseased cubs.
Four arrested in Khulna over gang rape of woman
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-6 have arrested four people in connection with the gang rape of a woman in Khulna city on Wednesday night.
The arrestees are auto-rickshaw drivers Belal Morol and Azizur Rahman Mithu, bakery worker Jihad Munshi and Md Rasel, a student.
The couple was returning to their Phulbari Gate home from Bypass area in the city around 8pm.
The accused ridding on two motorbikes obstructed the couple searched them introducing them as officials of administration.
Read more: Man detained in horrific rape-and-burn case of mute woman
Then they took the woman and her husband to an abandoned house where they blindfolded the husband raped her for around three hours.
The alleged rapists videoed them the whole thing and threatened them not to disclose this.
Pahan Chakma, senior assistant superintendent of the Rab-6, said they came to know the incident from their sources and asked the couple to come further to Khulna Medical College Hospital where they disclosed the incident.
Read more: Young girl ‘gang raped’ in Cumilla: 5 held Young girl ‘gang raped’ in Cumilla: 5 held
The victim is now undergoing treatment at One-stop Crisis Center of the KMCH, he said.