United News of Bangladesh

The International Crimes Tribunal will conduct an internal investigation over the allegations of bribery of Tk one crore involving a prosecutor at the International Crimes Tribunal, said Chief Prosecutor of the tribunal Aminul Islam on Tuesday. The Chief Prosecutor said this at a press conference after an audio recording surfaced on social media containing a conversation between prosecutor Saimum Reza Talukder and a lawyer of former Chattogram-6 lawmaker ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, who is an accused in a crimes against humanity case linked to the July movement. Action taken over Barishal courtroom chaos: SC The internal committee would investigate all complaints received since the formation of the tribunal, he said. Chief Prosecutor Aminul convened a closed-door meeting with the entire prosecution team on Tuesday morning which lasted over an hour.  “During my tenure, if any prosecutor or official is found involved in misconduct or corruption, strict action will be taken. There will be zero tolerance on such issues,” he said at the press conference. “Those working at the International Crimes Tribunal must rise above greed and personal gain. If one cannot do so, there is no need to remain here. Anyone can leave,” he added. “The entire judicial process of the tribunal becomes 100 percent questionable if such an allegation arises,” Aminul Islam said in response to a query from journalists. On the leaked audio, Aminul Islam said, “Even if no formal complaint reaches me, I will personally conduct an internal inquiry through the Chief Prosecutor’s office. Besides, I will form a committee to investigate all matters since the tribunal’s formation on August 5.” Any findings of wrongdoing would be reported to the authorities, he added. He also issued a warning to current and future prosecutors saying “If I receive even a small complaint against any prosecutor, consider that person gone from my office the very next day.” If I receive even a thread of an allegation against any prosecutor, you can assume that the next day he will no longer be here,” he said. According to the allegations, Saimum Reza Talukder had demanded Tk 1 crore from the family of former Awami League MP ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury in exchange for helping secure his bail in a crimes against humanity case related to incidents in Chattogram during the July uprising. Multiple audio recordings of WhatsApp conversations revealed the alleged demand for money. After the allegation surfaced, then chief prosecutor Tajul Islam removed Saimum from the case but did not take further action or relieve him of his other responsibilities at the tribunal. Later, the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry accepted Saimum’s resignation and relieved him of his duties as a prosecutor, according to a notification issued on Monday. Saimum had been appointed as a prosecutor of the tribunal on October 7, 2024.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Md Ali Hossain Fakir has said that a proposal has been submitted to the government to post judicial magistrates at every police station to ensure quick justice and resolve minor disputes. “If judicial magistrates are stationed at police stations, disputes related to land or unpaid money could be resolved within seven days,” he said while briefing journalists at the Police Headquarters media centre on Monday. This would reduce people’s need to visit courts frequently and help settle small conflicts more quickly, he added. Replying to a question, he said that one of the major challenges currently facing the police is the declining tendency among people to follow the law. “Whenever an incident occurs, people want quick justice. But investigation and judicial processes require a certain amount of time,” he said. According to him, having judicial magistrates at police stations would allow immediate resolution of certain issues, save police time and help reduce negative perceptions about the police among the public. Referring to recent mob violence, the IGP said police have plans to eliminate mob-related activities. Unemployment has made it easier for some people to join mobs when called upon by various groups, and some also become involved with juvenile gangs, he said. “No respectable person is involved in such mobs. Some people take advantage of mob situations to engage in looting,” he said. He mentioned that action is being taken against those who organise mobs and that they will be brought under the law regardless of their influence. Regarding extortion, the IGP said a list of extortionists has been prepared and operations against them will begin soon. Measures will be taken against individuals whose names appear commonly in lists received from different intelligence agencies. On the issue of political involvement in policing, he said police are an important part of the government but their main responsibility is to maintain law and order and serve the public. “Regardless of political affiliation, the police are friends of the people,” he said. He also instructed that anyone visiting a police station should be treated with respect, even if their complaint does not fall under the law. “They should at least be offered a cup of tea before leaving so that there is no complaint against the police,” he added. Calling for time to conduct proper investigations, the IGP said solving some murder cases can take 20 to 25 years. Excessive pressure can send the wrong message and increase the risk of false confessions or incorrect charge sheets. He said the “Joj Mia drama” had also occurred partly due to pressure from the media. He further said action will be taken if political individuals involved with juvenile gangs are found committing crimes. Additional IGPs AKM Aowlad Hossain (Administration), Md Akram Hossain (Finance), Mosleh Uddin Ahmed (Logistics and Asset Acquisition) and Sardar Nurul Amin (Development) were also present.

A student of the Department of Philosophy at Dhaka University (DU) was allegedly beaten several times and later handed over to Shahbagh Police Station on accusations of having links with the banned organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). The victim, Rahid Khan Pavel, a student from the 2020–21 academic session, is currently receiving treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital under police supervision. The incident reportedly took place during the pre-dawn meal (sehri) early Monday morning. Those accused in the incident include Hasibul Islam, an organisational secretary of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and a student of the Sociology Department at DU; Sardar Nadim Mahmud Shuvo, a Philosophy Department student from the same session; and Mohammad Saifullah, organisational secretary of Jatiya Chhatra Shakti. All the victim and the accused are students from the same academic batch. Nadim previously served as a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and later joined the Democratic Student Council. According to eyewitness students, Pavel went to the BUET canteen to have sehri when several student activists, including Hasibul Islam, called him over and engaged him in an argument over issues such as the alleged rehabilitation of Chhatra League, an iftar party reportedly organised on campus with BCL backing, and the recent playing of the March 7 speech on campus. The argument reportedly escalated into a scuffle. Later, Pavel was taken from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) campus to the Dhaka University campus, where he was allegedly beaten multiple times before being handed over to Shahbagh Police Station. Police later admitted him to the hospital. Highlighting the incident, Philosophy student Aditi Islam wrote on Facebook demanding justice for the attack on Rahid Khan Pavel, saying, “I demand justice for the assault on Philosophy Department student Rahid Khan Pavel after labelling him as Chhatra League. Those responsible for this terrorist act must be punished.” She further alleged that three identified individuals involved in the attack are Sardar Nadim Mahmud Shuvo, Hasib Al Islam and Saifullah. According to her, they are affiliated with Chhatra Shakti and are attempting to legitimise the attack by presenting themselves as “some general students.” “Raise your voice against this rising campus violence and resist such terrorist activities carried out in the name of politics,” she wrote. Following the incident, Saifullah posted on Facebook, “We have caught a Chhatra League member on campus and are taking him to Shahbagh Police Station. There will be no compromise on the Chhatra League issue.” Attempts to contact Saifullah for comment were unsuccessful. But he said to another journalist that when they went to the BUET canteen for sehri, Hasib called Pavel after noticing him. They then became involved in an argument over the issue of rehabilitating Chhatra League. According to him, Pavel made a phone call during the argument, which was followed by a physical altercation with Hasib and Shuvo. He claimed he was still inside the BUET canteen at that time and later saw that Pavel had been beaten when he reached Shahbagh Police Station. “Pavel is actually a very good friend of mine,” Saifullah added. Attempts to contact Hasib Al Islam for comment were unsuccessful. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shahbagh Police Station Moniruzzaman said Pavel is currently undergoing treatment and that further decisions regarding the matter will be taken later.

A court in Bogura on Monday sent the former officer-in-charge (OC) of Shahjahanpur Police Station to jail in an extortion case filed by a BNP leader. Judge Abuhena Siddiqui of Bogura Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-3 passed the order after a hearing in the afternoon. Former OC Alamgir Hossain appeared before the court in connection with a case filed in 2016 on charges of extorting Tk 5 lakh from BNP leader Fazlul Haque Ujjal by threatening him with “crossfire”. According to the case statement, the plaintiff, former district BNP associate training secretary and former joint convener of Shahjahanpur Tahan unit BNP Mohammad Fazlul Haque Ujjal, alleged that on February 24, 2016, then OC Alamgir Hossain chased and stopped his car, detained him and took him to the police station. There, the OC allegedly demanded Tk 5 lakh, threatening to kill him in a “crossfire”, the statement said. Ujjal said he was forced to pay the money through his wife and a colleague. Despite this, he was later arrested and sent to court in an unknown case. After a long delay, on February 25, 2025, Ujjal filed the extortion case with the court. The court assigned Mostafa Manjur, additional superintendent of police of Bogura Sadar Circle, to investigate the case. Following the investigation, he submitted a charge sheet to the court. Court inspector Shahidul Islam said that when Alamgir Hossain appeared before the court following a summons, the judge ordered that he be sent to jail after the hearing. He was later taken to Bogura District Jail. Plaintiff Fazlul Haque Ujjal said some police officers carried out repression and extortion against opposition leaders and activists by taking advantage of the political situation at that time. “I want a fair trial for this injustice so that no one dares to abuse power in the future,” he said.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched an investigation into alleged overseas money laundering involving former Managing Director of Dhaka WASA, Md. Abdus Salam Bepari. Special Police Super of the CID (Media) Jasim Uddin Khan said the investigation focuses on allegations that the removed Dhaka WASA chief illegally transferred large sums of money abroad. “The probe will examine possible financial transactions, bank accounts, and assets acquired abroad through illicit means,” he added. Initial findings indicate that Salam Bepari, who joined Dhaka WASA as an assistant engineer in 1991, allegedly laundered money earned from various sources and acquired significant movable and immovable assets in countries including Canada and the United States, in the names of himself, his wife, and associates. The investigation revealed that in 2018 he purchased a house in Toronto, Canada, under his name and that of his wife Mahbubunnesa. Information from the local land registration office shows the property’s current value is about Tk 20 crore. Various media reports also indicate that his family owns another house in Toronto.

India’s West Bengal Police Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the prime accused and his alleged associate in the murder of Inqilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman Bin Hadi from the border area of Bongaon in West Bengal. The arrestees were identified as Faisal Karim Masud, 37, a resident of Patuakhali, and Alamgir Hossain, 34, from Dhaka. According to Indian media reports quoting the STF, the arrests were made early Sunday following intelligence information that two Bangladeshi nationals involved in serious crimes, including murder and extortion, had fled Bangladesh and entered India illegally. During preliminary interrogation, it was revealed that Faisal Karim Masud, also known as Rahul, along with Alamgir Hossain, allegedly killed Osman Hadi, a political activist in Bangladesh, and later fled the country. They reportedly entered India illegally through the Meghalaya border and moved through different locations before reaching Bongaon in West Bengal with the intention of crossing back into Bangladesh. A case has been registered in India in this connection. The suspects were produced before a court on Sunday and remanded in police custody. Further investigation is underway. Hadi was shot on December 12 at Box Culvert Road under Paltan Model Police Station in Dhaka. He was initially taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, later to Evercare Hospital, and eventually flown to Singapore. Hadi died on the night of December 18 while undergoing treatment at Singapore General Hospital. Following the incident, Abdullah Al Jaber,  Member Secretary of Inqilab Moncho, filed a case of attempted murder with Paltan Police Station on December 14, which was later converted into a murder case.

Police recovered six unexploded sound grenades from inside the boundary near the main gate of the Supreme Court in the capital on Sunday. Later, the Bomb Disposal Unit of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)successfully defused the grenades, said DMP's Deputy Commissioner (Media) Talebur Rahman in the afternoon. According to Shahbagh Police Station sources, the grenades were found around 12:30pm on Sunday on the right side inside the boundary of the main gate of the Supreme Court. Cleaning staff of the High Court first noticed the six bomb-like objects lying abandoned in an unexploded condition while carrying out cleaning activities in the area. Being informed, a team from Shahbagh Police Station rushed to the spot, recovered the six bomb-like objects. After examining those, police confirmed that those are sound grenades. Later, they informed the CTTC Bomb Disposal Unit. The grenades were later taken to Suhrawardy Udyan and safely defused following necessary safety measures, police said.

The High Court on Sunday granted bail to former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in four cases filed on different charges, including murder. The bench of Justice Md Khairul Alam and Justice Md Sagir Hossain passed the order following separate bail petitions filed by Khairul Haque. However, the former chief justice cannot be released from jail as he remains shown arrested in another case, his lawyers said. Senior lawyer Munsurul Haque Chowdhury, Advocate Motahar Hossain Saju, Barrister Sara Hossain, Sayeed Ahmed Raja and lawyer Monayem Nabi Shaheen appeared for the petitioner in court, while Deputy Attorney General Zahirul Islam Sumon represented the state. Police arrested Khairul Haque from his Dhanmondi residence in the capital on July 24 last year. Later, he was shown arrested in the case over the murder of Jubo Dal activist Abdul Qayyum Ahad in Jatrabari during the July movement. Besides this case, four other cases were filed against him. Supreme Court lawyer Mujahidul Islam Shaheen filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station on August 27 accusing him of forging a judgment related to the caretaker government system. Another case was filed on August 25 at Fatulla Police Station in Narayanganj by Abdul Bari Bhuiyan, former president of the District Bar Association and general secretary of Fatulla Police Station unit BNP. On the same day, Nurul Islam Molla filed another case at Bandar Police Station in Narayanganj on similar charges. Earlier, on August 4 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also filed a case against Khairul Haque over alleged corruption in plot allocation. After a lower court rejected his bail petitions in the cases, he moved the High Court seeking bail. The High Court later issued a rule over the bail in five cases.

Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has uncovered within five days the mystery behind the killing of a madrasa student in Joydebpur, Gazipur, where the victim was strangled to death and his body later set on fire after he saw a youth smoking cannabis. One person has been arrested in connection with the incident. The deceased, Mahabub Islam Rony, 13, was a student of a madrasa in Bhabanipur Purba Para area under Joydebpur Police Station in Gazipur district. Sources at the PBI headquarters in Dhaka city said, Rony went missing around 9 pm on February 27 while returning home after offering Tarawih prayers at Darus Salam Jame Mosque in Bhabanipur Purba Para. The following day, his burnt body was recovered from a garden belonging to Mosharaf Hossain in the same village. Family members later identified the body. Rony’s grandfather filed a case with Joydebpur Police Station on March 1 against unidentified persons on charges of murder and destruction of evidence. As the case was scheduled under the PBI, Gazipur District PBI took over the investigation on its own initiative. SI (unarmed) Biswajit Biswas is currently investigating the case. During the investigation, PBI analysed technological data, reviewed surrounding information from the crime scene, used local sources and examined CCTV footage. Based on the findings, PBI arrested the victim’s neighbour and tenant, Sabbir Ahmed, 19, from the Bhabanipur area on March 5, said Superontendent of Police (SP) of PBI Media Abu Yousuf Hossain. During primary interrogation, Sabbir confessed to his involvement in the murder. He later gave a confessional statement before a court under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he said. According to the PBI investigation, around 9 pm on the day of the incident, the accused was smoking cannabis inside a nearby forest area. At that time, Rony saw him and said he would inform others about it. PBI arrests youth over killing of madrasa student in Gazipur The accused then tried to stop him and, in a fit of anger, pushed the boy to the ground and strangled him to death. Afterwards, he set the body on fire and fled the scene. PBI said it is also investigating whether anyone else was involved in the incident. The investigation is ongoing.  

A court in Narayanganj on Thursday rejected the bail petition of former Narayanganj City Corporation mayor Salina Hayat Ivy in a murder case filed over the death of Selim Mondol during the July Uprising in 2024. Senior Judicial Magistrate Selina Khatun passed the order after hearing the bail petition in the afternoon. Advocates Mahbubur Rahman Masum, Awlad Hossain, Zahidul Haque Dipu and Ziaul Islam Kajal, among others, represented Ivy in court. On February 26 this year, police applied to show Ivy arrested in the murder case of Selim Mondol, 29, filed with Siddhirganj Police Station. Ivy’s lawyer Awlad Hossain said the investigation officer failed to present any reasonable grounds before the court. “Even then, the court denied bail. She has been shown arrested in this case only to harass her. Through such false cases, a message is being sent to the nation that harassment through false charges still exists and that the rule of law is absent in the country,” he said. The lawyer also said that the High Court on February 26 granted Ivy interim bail in five cases, but police applied to show her arrested in the Selim Mondol murder case on the same day. Former NCC mayor Ivy gets HC bail in 5 cases According to the case statement, a multi-storey building in Siddhirganj was set on fire during clashes between protesters and police on July 20, 2024. Three workers, including Selim, who were doing interior decoration work at the Shimrail branch of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited on the third floor of the building, were burned to death. Their bodies were recovered three days later. Selim was a resident of Char Jagannathpur village in Kumarkhali upazila of Kushtia. His father, Wazed Ali, filed the murder case on June 6 last year.