Cumilla
2 sentenced to death in Cumilla for 2018 rape followed by murder
A tribunal in Cumilla on Tuesday sentenced two men to death for killing a 10-year-old girl after rape in Monohargonj upazila in 2018.
The death-row convicts are Bacchu Mia and Amir Hamza, residents of the upazila.
Cumilla Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge Abdullah Al Mamun delivered the judgment.
Read more: Unspeakable: Parents tied up before daughter gang-raped by vandals in Subarnachar
The court also fined the convicts Tk 1 lakh each.
According to the case, the minor girl was raped and hacked to death by the convicts in the upazila on March 5 in 2018.
Later, police recovered the body and sent it to Cumilla Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.
Read more: Sunamganj: 5 get life in prison in attempted rape, rape cases
A case was filed at Monohargonj police station in this regard.
On February 12 in 2019, a chargesheet against the convicts was submitted to the court.
Triennial conference of Cumilla city AL begins
The triennial conference of Cumilla city unit of Awami League (AL) began at the city’s Town Hall ground on Saturday.
The event was inaugurated by AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, also Road Transport and Bridges Minister.
Presidium member of the party Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim spoke as the chief guest while another presidium member Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya was present as special guest.
Mahbubul Alam Hanif, joint general secretary of AL, and Abu Saeed Al Mahmud Swapan, organizing secretary of the party, among others, joined the council.
Read more: Dhaka AL Council: Benzir named president, Poniruzzaman GS
The committee of Cumilla city AL was announced for the first time on July 22, 2017, six years after the formation of Cumilla City Corporation (CCC).
The Committee consisted of 71 members. AKM Bahauddin Bahar, Member of Parliament (MP) from Cumilla Sadar constituency and Arfanul haque Rifat, current Mayor of CCC, were made President and General Secretary of the committee.
3 of family among 4 dead as bus hits auto rickshaw in Cumilla
Four people, including three members of a family, were killed and four others injured as a bus hit a CNG-run auto rickshaw on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Chandina upazila of Cumilla Monday noon.
The deceased were identified as Tanni, 20, her 10-month-old child Muntaha, her aunt Rezia Khatun and auto rickshaw driver Habibullah.
The Chattogram-bound bus hit the auto rickshaw on the highway in Dhamti area around 12 pm, leaving two female passengers dead on the spot and four people wounded, said Akul Chandra Biswas, officer-in-charge (OC) of Mainamati Highway Police Station
Read: 7 killed in road accidents in 3 districts
The injured were later rushed to Cumilla Medical College and Hospital where the driver and the child died.
Police couldn’t seize the killer bus as it fled immediately after the accident, said the OC.
3 to hang for killing housewife in Cumilla
A court in Cumilla has sentenced three people to death for the murder of a woman in 2016.
Cumilla district and sessions judge Md Helal Uddin handed down the punishment to the trio on Tuesday morning. However, another accused in the case was acquitted "for lack of evidence".
The death row convicts are Simon and Rakib of the Shikirgaon area of the Meghna upazila, and Tasir of the Manikarchar area of the upazila. Of them, Tasir was tried in absentia.
The acquitted person, Titu, belongs to the same area.
According to the prosecution, the woman went missing on June 20, 2016. Four days later, police had recovered her semi-decomposed body from a paddy field near her house.
On June 25, the woman's husband lodged a complaint against unidentified people at the Meghna police station. The cops later registered a murder case.
Subsequently, the investigating officer in the case submitted a chargesheet against the four people.
With scars from 2021, Cumilla sees tighter security for Durga Puja
Authorities in Cumilla have placed tighter security measures this year to help celebrate the Durga Puja peacefully, following last year’s violence in the district that spilled over into other regions of the country, officials say.
Cumilla Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Kamrul Hasan said that they deployed Ansar members to guard the puja mandaps round the clock while additional members of police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) have been patrolling the celebration sites.
He said they will prevent any attempt to destabilise the communal harmony in the district.
Read: Dinajpur murder protest: No justice, No Puja celebration!
He also said that this year, organisers set up a mandap in the Nanua Dighir Par area where violence broke out in October 2021 after a copy of the holy Quran was found there.
On October 13 last year, a Muslim man reportedly placed a copy of the Quran on the lap of an idol at the mandap in Cumilla while another suspect, also a Muslim man, called 999 helpline reporting the "desecration of the holy book", according to police statement.
5 youths burnt in Cumilla gas cylinder fire
Five youths have sustained burn injuries as a fire broke out originating from a gas cylinder in Homna upazila of Cumilla.
The injured were identified as Md Sajib, 23, Md Jalal Uddin, 22, Md Saiful, 20, Saidul Islam, 35, and Md Shahin, 38.
The fire broke out at the house of Abdul Latif in Joypur village of the upazila Sunday evening, said Upazila Fire station in-charge Md Usman Gani.
"Latif's wife was trying to light their gas stove in the evening but it did not work. She might have left the gas cylinder on which caused the fire," added Usman Gani.
The five people sustained burn injuries while trying to tame the blaze, he added.
They were first taken to Upazila Health Complex and then Sajib and Jalal were shifted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in critical condition, said Md Aminul Islam, deputy assistant community medical officer of the health complex.
SSC exams: Invigilator withdrawn after assaulting students in Cumilla
An invigilator of the SSC exams had to be withdrawn after he assaulted several students during an examination in Chandina upazila of Cumilla.
The invigilator, Md Salauddin, was withdrawn from the exam centre on Saturday to allow a fair investigation into what actually led to his shocking behaviour, said Chandina Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Taposh Sheel.
The incident took place on Thursday, the first day of the Dakhil examinations, at the Chandina Al Amin Islamia Kamil Madrasa. Among eleven reported victims, eight are from the same madrasa as the exam centre, and three attend the Abedanoor Fazil Madrasa.
Read: SSC examinee jumps off a building hours before exam
On condition of anonymity, the victims said during the examination of the MCQ section of Quran Majeed subject, Salauddin beat them with a ruler "for failing to fill the set code circle in the Optical Mark Reader".
Later, the victims submitted a written complaint to the secretary of their exam centre.
When contacted, accused Salahuddin denied the allegation against him, saying he only "scolded them" for their mistake, and there was no physical beating involved.
Bulu's motorcade attacked while passing through Cumilla
BNP Vice-Chairman Barkat Ullah Bulu, his wife and two others were injured as their motorcade came under attack by 'miscreants' in Cumilla's Monoharganj on Saturday, while en route to Dhaka from Noakhali.
"Bulu sustained serious injuries to his head," said Md Mostak Mia, central organising secretary of Cumilla BNP.
He was, however, able to hold a press briefing later, and said one of the tyres of his car got punctured as he and his wife Shamima Barkat Lucky were heading back to Dhaka from Noakhali's Begumganj. This is what led to the stopover in Monoharganj.
"Some miscreants attacked us at Bipulasar Bazar as we made a stopover to change the punctured tyre, and were having tea with some local BNP activists and leaders," Bulu said.
Read: BNP holds candlelight vigil amid attack in city
They were immediately taken to a private hospital in Chandina and later shifted to Dhaka for further treatment.
The injured said some men suddenly arrived on a motorcycle and swooped on them, according to Jawhar Iqbal, in-charge of Natherpetua Police Outpost.
"We will take legal action if we receive a complaint," he added.
Dhaka muslin: Resurrecting the forgotten fabric in Cumilla!
Once the most valuable fabric on Earth, Dhaka muslin has now become almost extinct.
Centuries on, researchers in Bangladesh have resurrected the forgotten enigmatic fabric after six years of effort -- this time, not in Dhaka but in Cumilla.
Once an attire of kings and queens, muslin is a light cotton fabric of plain weave. It got its name from the ancient city of Mosul in Iraq where it was first produced.
Read: Recovering Muslin is our great achievement: Textile and Jute minister
According to the researchers, at least 30 metric counts of cotton fibre are needed to produce a reeled or handwoven muslin yarn. And the yarn produced in this way is so fine that a muslin saree can pass through a ring.
But, somehow muslin became extinct by the end of the 18th century.
At present, over 200 women are producing muslin yarn in Sonapur and Rampur villages of Cumilla’s Chandina and Debidwar upazilas under a project monitored by the Bangladesh Handloom Board (BHB).
Read Recovering Muslin is our great achievement: Textile and Jute minister
7 young men missing from Cumilla since Aug 23
Seven male students belonging to different institutions in Cumilla have been missing since August 23.
Although ranging in age from 17 to 25, they all knew each other, and left home without their mobile phones.
The students are--Cumilla Victoria Government College’s HSC examinees Imran Bin Rahman and Samy, Cumilla Government College’s HSC examinees Hasibul Islam and Nihal, Imtiaz Ahmed Rifat and Aminul Islam Alamin of Victoria College, and Niloy, a recent graduate of Dhaka’s Daffodil University.
Missing Imran’s father Mujibur Rahman said his son had no connection to anything except studies, college, coaching and namaz (prayer). However from his own statement it is learned that Imran was attending a Tabligh e Jamaat programme too.
Read: Missing student’s body recovered from Bay in Cox’s Bazar
“On August 23, Imran told me that he would go to a Tabligh programme from his coaching and take time to return home,” Mujibur said, adding that he started searching after Imran didn’t come back that night. Or since, for that matter.
The following day, a general diary was filed at the Kotwali Model Police Station. Eventually the Rapid Action Battalion was informed, Imran’s father said.
Md Afzal Hossain, additional superintendent of police (ASP) of the district, said they have been investigating since September 5.
“We cannot say anything on whether they all went off together somewhere before we complete our investigation,” he said.
Major Muhammad Sakib, commandant of Rab-11, also refused to share anything on the ongoing investigation.