Chattogram, June 20 (UNB)- The Chattogram Central Jail authority seized 100 Yaba pills from a prisoner on Thursday.

The prisoner has been identified as Rezaul Karim, son of late Jane Alam of Hali Shohor area of the city.

Kamal Hossain, the senior superintendent of the jail, said the prisoner was in court to appear  in his regular cases Thursday.

Later, after he returned from the court at 8.30 pm, the authority recovered 100 yaba pills attached to his penis.

In primary interrogation, Rezaul confessed to his crime. But he did not provide any information about who gave him the pills.

‘’We will look into the incident’’ added Kamal Hossain.  

Dhaka, Jun 20 (UNB) – A court here on Thursday seized the immovable assets and bank accounts of suspended Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police Mizanur Rahman, responding to an appeal filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court Judge AK Imrul Kayes passed the order.
  
Earlier on June 12, ACC director Manjur Morshed was appointed to inspect the wealth statement of Mizan after suspension of previous investigation officer Khandaker Enamul Basir on allegations of leaking information in violation of the rules.

A private TV channel reported recently that Mizan gave Tk 40 lakh to Khandaker Enamul Basir to get clean chit in a corruption case.

DIG Mizan was an additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). He was withdrawn on January 9 last year following the allegation of threatening a female news presenter of a private television channel.

He had also reportedly married a woman forcibly and tortured her. Mizan allegedly picked up 25-year-old woman in July, 2017 and then forcibly married her.

He had also implicated her in a false case whereby she was arrested and remained in jail for three weeks.
 

Narayanganj, Jun 20 (UNB) – A housewife of an expatriate was allegedly tortured to death in the name of performing exorcism, that her mothgd in Chowdhuripara of Sidhirganj on Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Shahnaj Aktar Sikha, 25, daughter of Shah Alam resident of Saddam Market area in Dhaka.

Police held the couple Faruk Hossain and his wife Jesmin locally known as ‘Kabiraj’ who performed the exorcism from their house in Chowdhuripara after the murder.

Sikha’s mother Suraiya Begum said she had a deal of Tk 10,000 with Faruk to fix her daughter’s mental sickness as she suspected Sikha has been possessed by some supernatural forces (Jinn). She also paid them Tk 7,000 in advance  

At some point, the couple took Sikha to their house and started torturing her physically. They tied her up and beat her on the chest after pushing cloth into her mouth for two days.

Earlier on Wednesday, Suraiya Begum went to her house for some necessary works while Faruk called her to come soon stating that Jinns are taking away her daughter.

When the mother returned Sikha was already dead.Their family doctor said she had died few hours back.     

Inspector of Siddhirganj Police Station HM Jasim Uddin said they have recovered the body.

Victim’s mother filed a case in this regard on Wednesday night, he said.
 

Cumilla, June 20 (UNB) - Two minor siblings drowned in a water body in Laksam municipality area on Thursday. 

The deceased were identified as Abu Borhan, 7, and his brother Abu Raihan, 4, sons of Mazharul Islam of Paschimgaon Showa Choiani in the municipality. 

Abdul Alim Didar, councillor of ward-6 of the municipality, said the duo was playing at their courtyard around 1:30pm. At one stage, they fell into a nearby ditch and drowned. 

Later, family members rescued them and took them to Laksam Upazila Health Complex where doctors pronounced the boys dead. 

A pall of gloom descended on the area after the tragic incident.
 

Dhaka, June 20 (UNB) – Chairman of Centre for Policy Dialogue Prof Rehman Sobhan on Thursday said marginal communities have to gain political power along with increasing their capabilities to end repressions against them.

He also underscored the need for protecting traditional rights of small ethnic communities to land and called for incorporating their voices in the national budget.

“Those who have huge money and political power are involved in repression and grabbing land (of the marginal and the excluded groups),” he said at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day national convention and cultural programme at the LGRD auditorium in the city.

Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) organised the programme titled ‘Convention on Discrimination, Exclusion and Rights of the Marginal and Excluded People’ with the slogan ‘Leaving no one behind’.

Prof Sobhan, speaking as the chief guest, said: “The marginal communities must attain political power alongside capabilities to end repression against them.”

He pointed out that there are political parties comprising of minority groups in India. “The minority communities have to be visible in our country that way,” he said.

Some 300 members from 50 communities, including Bede, Horizon, Kayputra, Bihari and Rishi, are participating in the two-day event.

Chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, who presided over the inaugural ceremony, said the marginal communities must work together to address their problems.

Claiming that there is discrimination in the country’s development efforts, he said the government should think anew to this end.

In the keynote paper, SEHD Director Philip Gain said the government has so far recognised 50 ethnic communities and that more than 50 such communities should also be recognised.

Litterateur Harishankar Jaladas, Kamalganj upazila parish vice-chairman and Bangladesh Tea Workers’ Union General Secretary Ramvajan Koiri, CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Rounaq Jahan, Executive Director of the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) Joyanta Adhikari were, among others, present.

Prof Ainun Nishat, UNFPA officer Md Shamshuzzaman and Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua presided over separate sessions on different topics.

A book named ‘Madhupur: The Vanishing Forest and Her People in Agony’ was launched at the programme while a documentary, ‘Aronyar Artonad’ was screened.