Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma on Monday visited the Gandhi Ashram in Noakhali and paid rich tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his 75th death anniversary. The Ashram commemorates Bapu’s “Peace Mission” to Noakhali in 1946 and his message of non-violence and communal harmony. The High Commissioner also participated in a discussion titled “The Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the Contemporary World” organized by the Gandhi Ashram Trust. Members of the trust, local political leaders, representatives of local administration as well as civil society and academia joined the interaction. High Commissioner Verma underlined the guiding light of Gandhiji’s philosophy of truth, humanism and non-violence in showing them the path to deal with today’s global menace of extremism and terrorism. He also emphasised Gandhi’s belief in harmony with nature, his determination for the empowerment of the poorest and his message of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” that inspires the motto of “One Earth, One Family, One Future” adopted by India for its G20 Presidency.  

A United Arab Emirates returnee was detained with two kilograms (KG) of gold at Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport in the port city of Chattogram on Tuesday. Expatriate Md Ziaul Hoque is from Companyganj upazila in Noakhali. Bashir Ahmed, director general at Chattogram Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, confirmed the gold recovery  and detention saying that a flight of Dubai Airlines FZ-563 landed at the airport in the morning.   Noticing suspicious movement of the expatriate, members of customs intelligence challenged him and searched his bags, he said. Read more: Man held with 2kg gold from Ctg airport The gold weighing around 2kg was recovered from his bag,  the customs officer said, adding that legal actions were taken against him in this connection.

A Noakhali court on Tuesday sentenced seven people, including the son of the victim, to death for killing a woman in 2020. The condemned convicts are—Abdul Barek, Humayun Kabir, 32, son of Nurjahan Begum, Niron, 26, son of Milon Majhi, Nur Islam, 32, son of Nur Alam, Kalam alias Mamun, 28, son of Dulal Majhi, Ismail, 35, son of Mominullah, Sumon, 28, son of Milad Hossain and Hamid, 35, son of Marfat Ullah of Jahajmara village in Subarnachar upazila. Noakhali District and Sessions Judge Nilufar Sultana handed down the verdict. According to the prosecution, Nurjahan Begum,58 , went missing from his home at Jahajmara village in Subarnachar upazila on October 6, 2020. Later, police recovered her body, cut into five pieces, from a water body. Humayun Kabir, son of Nurjahan, lodged a complaint with Char Jabbar Police Station on that day. Later, police arrested Humayun and after interrogation, police came to know that Humayun along with his six associates killed Nurjahan over land dispute. Also read: 5 get death sentence for raping teenage girl in Khulna The convicts including Humayun strangled Nurjahan to death by a pillow when she was asleep and severed the body into five pieces. Later, they dumped the body into a water body. Police also seized a sharp weapons, pillow and clothes used in the murder.  

A Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader was killed after a speeding covered van crashed into his motorbike in Noakhali's Chatkhil upazila Wednesday, police said. "The deceased Shihab Uddin Soron, 26, was from Ramnarayan union. He was a second-year student at Noakhali Government College and the assistant school affairs secretary of the district JCD," Asgar Uddin Dukhu, president of the district JCD unit, said. "The accident occurred in the afternoon as the JCD leader was going to Sahapur from Sompara. At this time, the covered van of Incepta Pharmaceuticals hit his bike in the Bangla Bazar area on Kochua-Bottali road," Md Harunur Rashid Bahar, chairman of Ramnarayan union parishad, said. Shihab died from the impact of the crash, he added. Although locals could seize the covered van, its driver managed to flee the scene, Md Abu Jafar, inspector of Chatkhil police station, said. Read more: Injured AL leader dies in Sylhet

Road Transport and Bridges Minister and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today (November 29, 2022) said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always works to serve the people of the country, not as a ruler, so AL activists must sincerely work for the nation. “Just wearing a Mujib coat doesn’t prove that you are a true soldier of Bangabandhu. To be a ‘Mujib’s soldier’, one must uphold his ideals,” Quader said while speaking as the chief guest at the tri-annual conference of Noakhali town and Sadar upazila unit of Awami League. Quader joined the conference virtually from his official residence in Dhaka. Read more: No transport strike during BNP’s Dhaka rally: Obaidul Quader “We will counter misinformation from BNP’s Mirza Fakhrul with truth and constructive action,” the AL leader and minister said. Referring to the “killings of 21,000 AL leaders and activists by BNP,” Obaidul Quader said that during BNP’s last 5-year tenure, AL leaders and activists could not stay at home even for 50 days. Regarding BNP’s recent countrywide movement, Quader said that they have no issues with peaceful protests, but if BNP “plays with fire and resorts to violence, we are prepared, and a fitting reply will be given to protect the lives and property of the people.” Read more: PM instructed to move BCL council from Dec 8 to 6 to facilitate BNP’s Dhaka rally: Quader Abdul Wadud Pintu, president of Noakhali Municipal Awami League, presided over the conference while Awami League Organizing Secretary Abu Saeed Al Mahmud Swapan, Agriculture and Cooperative Affairs Secretary Faridunnahar Laili, Noakhali District Awami League Convener AHM Khairul Anam Chowdhury Salim, Joint Convener Shihab Uddin Shaheen, Sahid Ullah Khan Sohail and Member of Parliament Ekramul Karim Chowdhury, also spoke.

Miscreants allegedly gang raped a 14-year-old girl in Subarnachar upazila in Noakhali on Sunday night after tying up her parents. The incident occurred around 11 pm at West Char Mazid area in the upazila, said police. Girl’s parents said some 20 to 25 men attacked their house at night, vandalized and looted it. They also beat them up and tied them outside the house, they said. Also read: Sunamganj: 5 get life in prison in attempted rape, rape cases Later two of them raped the girl while others assisted and after that she tried to commit suicide, said the girl’s parents. Police officers from Char Jabbar police station rescued the family after getting a call on emergency helpline no 999 and admitted them to the upazila health complex, said Jaynal Abedin, Officer-in-Charge of Char Jabbar police station. Also read: Female garment worker gang raped in Netrokona, 3 arrested A case has been filed in this regard and efforts are on to arrest the accused, said the OC. The girl was taken to Noakhali General Hospital on Monday for a medical test and her sample has been collected, said Resident Medical Officer Syed Mahi Uddin Abdul Azim.

Police in Noakhali's Hatia have reported the deaths of three men in what it described as a "shootout between two gangs of robbers," which erupted over a turf war, in Char Ghasia of Noakhali's Hatia early Thursday. The deceased were identified as Shahraj (35), Kabir (40) and Nurunnabi (45), Hatia Police Station Office-in-Charge Amir Hossain told UNB. Their bodies have been kept at Hatia's Chairman Ghat Police Outpost and will be sent to Noakhali 250 Bed General Hospital for autopsies early Friday, he added. Earlier, Bangladesh Coast Guard claimed to have detained five robbers with arms following the turf battle. The detainees are Md Hinju, 37, of Noakhali's Char Jabbar; Mohammad Harun, 37, of Lakshmipur's Ramgati, Mohammad Liton, 35, from the district's Char Gazi village, Mohammad Mosharof, 36, of Abdul Munshirhat Kalkini village and Azim Bepari, 27, of Char Abdullah village. During its drive, Coast Guard seized three single-shot rifles, two rounds of bullets, six machetes, five spears and many iron rods from them. According to locals, two robbers, who are also brothers, Khokon and Fakhrul were at loggerheads over establishing supremacy in Char Ghasia. Recently, Fakhrul took hold of the area after the law enforcers caught Khokon. Coming out of jail on bail a few days ago, Khokon tried to regain his hold. So, the dispute between the two brothers resurfaced and led to today's gunfight. Lieutenant Shafiul Kinjol, media officer of BCG Hatia, said: "Legal action will be taken against the detainees."      

Two fishermen died and two others went missing after a trawler carrying 16 fishers capsized amid a heavy storm in the Bay of Bengal on Friday, police said.   The capsize occurred adjacent to Nijhum Dwip in Hatiya upazila of Noakhali district on Friday morning, said police.    The dead were identified as Mainuddin, a resident of Amtali village in Jahajmara union of the upazila and Md Raful of Notun Sukhchar village. The missing fishermen are Sharif and Belal. Local resident Jillur Rahman said a total of 16 fishermen on board ‘MB Siraj’ fishing boat went to deep sea to catch fish a few days back. They were returning to ghat (an anchoring spot) after the catch on Thursday night. Read: Trawler capsize at Bay: 3 missing fishermen rescued The trawler was caught in a sudden storm and capsized after arriving in Dhamarchar area adjacent to the Nijhum Dwip around 10am on Friday, said he quoting the survivors. Though 12 fishermen managed to swim to another trawler ‘MB Yeamin Chowdhury’.     Later, sailors from another trawler ‘Lutfullahil Mujib Nishan’ found bodies of the Mainuddin and Raful lying inside the trawler that got struck at the char, said he. Kanchhan Kanti Das, inspector (investigation) of Hatiya Police Station, confirmed the incident. Locals joined police and Coast Guard to search for the missing people, he said.    

A man was lynched to death by residents in Charafkira union of Naokhali's Companiganj upazila in the early hours on Wednesday on suspicion of being a cattle thief, police said. The identity of the deceased could not be known immediately. A gang of thieves swooped on the cowsheds of Zakir Hossain and Noor Uddin in the Arjuntala area of the upazila around 3.30am, district SP Mohammad Shahidul Islam said. Read:Two killed in Noakhali accidents "Sensing the presence of the thieves, local people surrounded them and caught one of them while the others managed to flee. He was beaten to death by the villagers," the officer added. The body was recovered by police and sent to the Noakhali General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. "Additional police force has been deployed in the area to avert further trouble," he said.

Police arrested a local Jubo League leader in a case over torturing a sexagenarian man from Thanarhat Bazar in Subornachar upazila of Noakhali district in the small hours of Monday. The arrestee is Abul Hossain Sanaz, 45, president of No 9 ward unit Jubo League of Charwapda union and son of Azhar Ahmed of the upazila. He was the prime accused in the case. Tipped off, a team of police conducted a drive in the area and arrested Sanaz from Thanarhat Bazar around 12 pm. Shahidul Islam, superintendent of Noakhali Police, said on July 2, Sanaz along with his associates picked up Sheikh Nasir Uddin Maizbhandar, 68, and beat him up mercilessly at Amanatganj after tying his mouth while he was returning home. Also read: Bangladeshi woman confined, tortured in KSA; Case filed Later, they unleashed brutal torture on him after putting a torchlight into the anus of the victim over previous enmity. When the man got senseless, they fled the scene. He is now undergoing treatment at Noakhali 250-bed General Hospital. Syed Mahiuddin Abdul Azim, resident Medical Officer of the hospital, said the physicians removed the torchlight from the anus after surgery. Also read: AL leader tied to tree, tortured in Ctg; UP member held Meanwhile, the victim’s family lodged a complaint against eight people with Subarnachar Police and police registered a case in this connection.