The four-member committee, formed to investigate the road accident that left 19 dead and 20 others injured in Madaripur’s Shibchar upazila on March 19, mainly blamed the reckless driving and an unfit vehicle for the accident. The committee, led by Additional District Magistrate Pallab Kumar Hazra, submitted its report with a 14-point recommendation to Deputy Commissioner Kamal Uddin Biswas on Wednesday noon. The report also said that though the driver had a licence of running a medium-scale vehicle, he was running a heavy vehicle amid rain. Read more: Bus falls into ditch in Madaripur: Death toll now 19 Pallab Kumar said Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRAT), Gopalganj deferred registration of the Emad Paribahan’s bus due to desperate driving on November 17 past year and the vehicle’s lifetime expired on January 18 this year but it had been running on the roads violating rules.        He said they submitted the probe report with the 14-point recommendation to ward off any unexpected accident further. The recommendations included ensuring licences of drivers and valid documents of all vehicles before operating the vehicles on the highways, using seatbelts by drivers and passengers when the vehicles move on the highways, building the vehicles’ interior with soft objects, constructing guard rail on the both sides of expressways and keeping updated database of all vehicles running on the highways.  Another member of the probe committee, Moniruzzaman, an additional superintendent of the district police, said the number of sophisticated equipment of patrolling vehicles and manpower of the law enforcing agencies will have to be increased to keep vigilance on the vehicles on the expressways. He also suggested installing CCTV cameras, trackers and online monitoring systems to lessen the road mishaps. Moreover, the speed of vehicles will have to be kept under control at night, dawn and during adverse weather, he said. Earlier on March 19, at least 19 people were killed and 20 others were injured as a Dhaka-bound bus of Emad Paribahan from Khulna fell into a roadside ditch in Madaripur’s Shibchar upazila.  Later, the district administration formed a four-member committee to investigate the incident.  

Bangladesh Police has formed a five-member probe body in connection with the escaping of two death row convicts and members of banned militant group Ansar al-Islam from the premises of Dhaka court on Sunday. The committee, headed by Additional Police Commissioner (crime and operation) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), has been asked to submit its report within three working days, said a DMP press release. Earlier in the day, they were sentenced to death in Jagriti Publications publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan murder case. Also read: Militants flee Dhaka Court: Red Alert issued, says Home Minister They are Md Abu Siddique Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab and Moinul Hasan Shamim alias Samir alias Sifat alias Imran, said Harun or-Rashid, Chief of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). “The convicts sprayed something in the eyes of two policemen and escaped while they were being taken to the court. We’re searching for them in nearby areas. This is the first time something like this has happened in the country,” said Harun. Publisher Dipan, son of Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq of Dhaka University, was hacked to death in his office on the second floor of Aziz Supermarket at Shahbagh in Dhaka on October 31, 2015. Meanwhile, Bangladesh police announced Tk 10 lakh for information for each. The government has issued red alert at all the entry and exit points of the country to arrest them, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.  

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has assured that there will be no objection to taking punitive action as recommended by the probe committee against those responsible for the Uttara Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project's fatal girder accident. The ambassador made the remark during a courtesy meeting with Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri at the Secretariat on Thursday morning. Li Jiming expressed deep grief over the loss of lives in the Dhaka BRT project girder accident in Uttara on Monday and prayed for the quick recovery of the injured, as per a press release from the division. He also said a high-level delegation of the Chinese contractor of the Roads and Highways Department's Dhaka BRT project had arrived in Bangladesh from China to investigate on behalf of the company. The delegation is ready to provide necessary assistance to the probe committee formed by the Road Transport and Highways Division, he added. The committee has been asked to submit its final report within the next seven days, said the secretary. Read:Uttara girder crash tragedy: Helper operating crane instead of operator Al Amin Strict action will be taken as per the recommendations of the report, he added. On Monday, a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project girder came crashing down on the car near Uttara's Jasimuddin road when it was being moved onto a trailer, suggesting the use of cranes of insufficient strength in the project. Rubel, 50, Fahima, 40, her sister Jhorna, 28, and Jhorna's two children Jannat, 6, and Jakaria, 2, got crushed inside the mangled car. Fortunately, a newlywed couple – Rubel's son Hridoy, 26, and his wife Ria Moni, 21, – also travelling with them escaped death. On the same day, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges formed a six-member probe committee to investigate the tragedy. Nilima Akhter, additional secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division,  is heading the committee. The panel has been asked to submit a full report within the next two days. The probe body found that contractor firm China Gezhouba Group Company Limited is responsible for the Uttara tragedy, the Road Transport and Highways Division secretary said on Tuesday.

A three-member committee has been formed to probe into the incident of setting 12 buses on fire in Goalchamte of Faridpur. The committee has been asked to submit the report within five working days, said Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarkar on Sunday. Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime and Investigation) Md Imdad Hossain has been made the head of the committee. The other two members of the committee are Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Sumon Ranjan Sarkar and Additional Superintendent of Police (DSB) Helaluddin. A case was also filed in this regard. Read: 12 buses set on fire in Faridpur ASP Sumon Ranjan Sarkar said a security guard looking after of the seized buses, was being questioned. Steps are on to arrest the culprits after identifying them, he added. Earlier on Saturday, at least 12 buses of ‘South Line’ Paribahan were set on fire by unidentified miscreants at the terminal in Goalchamte of Faridpur district town around 1.30am. Some 22 buses were parked at the terminal. All the buses -- owned by former Awami League leader Sajjad Hossain Barkat and his brother Imtiaz Hossain Rubel, had been kept at the terminal since their seizure by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in June 2020. On information, fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was eventually extinguished. Suraiya Parveen, wife of Barkat, said that a local court on February 25, 2020, ordered the seizure of 55 vehicles, owned by Barkat-Rubel. Read: 5 alleged passport brokers arrested in Faridpur On March 3 last year, the CID filed a charge sheet against 10 people, including Barkat and Rubel, in a Tk 2,000-crore money laundering case. CID's assistant superintendent Uttam Kumar Biswas submitted the charge sheet in the Dhaka metropolitan magistrate's court.

Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (Kuet) authorities on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to 44 students over the unnatural death of its teacher Md. Selim Hossain. The students were asked to respond to the notice by January 3. Read: Prof Selim’s death: Closure of KUET extended again until Jan 6 Earlier on December 3, the university was declared closed till December 13 as tension gripped the campus over his death allegedly due to mental torture and harassment by some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists. Then the closure was extended till December 23. On December 23, the Kuet authorities decided that the dormitories will reopen on January 8 and classes resume on January 9. Besides, a five-member probe committee was formed to investigate the death. Prof Selim, 38, a teacher of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) department at the university, was also the provost of Lalan Shah Hall. Read: Kuet Prof. Selim’s body exhumed for autopsy According to faculty members of the university, Prof Selim died hours after some Chhatra League activists led by Sadman Nahyan Sejan, general secretary of Kuet Chhatra League, allegedly confined the teacher to his office and mentally tortured him to accept their choice as dining manager of Lalan Shah Hall for December. During this confinement the teacher was allegedly subjected to abuses, humiliation and threat, his colleagues said.

The probe committee formed by the Shipping Ministry has been granted three more working days from Wednesday to finish its investigation into the unprecedented disaster witnessed in Jhalokathi last Friday morning, of a passenger launch filled to the brim going up in flames on a riverway. On December 24, the Shipping Ministry formed the seven-member probe committee, asking it to submit its report within three working days. But the deadline was missed. As per the appeal of the committee, three more working days have been granted, according to a notification issued by the ministry. READ: HC seeks probe report on launch fire within 30 days Joint secretary of the shipping ministry Tofayel Ahmed is the convener, while deputy secretary Aminur Rahman will act as its member secretary. The confirmed death toll from Friday's deadly fire on the MV Abhijan-10 off the coast of Jhalakathi rose to 47 on Wednesday, with the recovery of two more bodies from the Sugandha River as Coast Guard members and firefighters continued searching the river for a sixth day in a row. According to a list of the missing compiled by the Jhalakathi office of the Red Crescent Society, at least 58 people are still missing. Meanwhile, an FIR was lodged at Jhalakathi police station on Monday night, following a complaint from the victims' side, accusing eight people, including launch co-owner Hamjalal Sheikh, for the tragedy. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Hamjalal in connection with the deadly fire on board the MV Avijan-10. His arrest followed the Dhaka Marine Court’s warrants for the arrest of four owners and four staffers of the launch in a case filed by the department of shipping. READ: Launch fire tragedy: 47 confirmed dead now, at least 58 still missing The blaze broke out around 3am on Friday on the Barguna-bound launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka and it engulfed the entire vessel within 10 minutes.

A four-member probe committee has been formed Sunday over the large fire in Chairman Bari yesterday that took 10 hours to put out. DAD of Fire Service and Civil Defence Shahjahan Sikder at the headquarters said that the committee has been directed to submit the investigation report within seven working days. Read:Banani warehouse fire doused after 10 hrs Deputy Director (Development) Noor Hasan Ahmed was made president and Deputy Assistant Director Niaz Ahmed as secretary of the committee. Two other members of the committee include senior station officer of Tejgaon Fire Station and warehouse inspector of the concerned area. On Saturday morning a massive fire broke out at a six-storey building in Banai’s Chairman Bari area. Eleven units of fire service, later three units from the Bangladesh Army and the Navy joined together and managed to put out the fire after 10 hours of effort. Read: Fire breaks out at a bakery in city’s Nawabpur Fortunately, no casualties were reported.

The district administration formed a five-member probe committee Friday after the sudden fire at the Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited (NESCO) 33/11 thousand kV sub-station in Naogaon. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mohammad Harun ur Rashid formed the committee on Friday noon after inspecting the damaged 33/11 thousand kV sub-station. Additional District Magistrate Razia Sultana was made convener of the probe committee which has been asked to submit an investigation report within the next three working days. Read: Fire in power substation triggers outage in Naogaon On Friday 7:30 am, seven breakers in the power control room caught fire with a sudden load noise resulting power supply cut off in Naogaon, Sadar upazila, Raninagar, some parts of Atrai upazila as well as Shantahar and Adamdighi areas of Bogura district. On information, four units of Naogaon Fire Service brought the fire under control after trying for about an hour. However, no casualties were reported.

A three-member committee has been formed to investigate the "affair" between Golam Saklain Shithil, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of Detective Branch (DB), and Dhallywood actress Pori Moni. The Police Headquarters confirmed this to UNB Sunday night. Police Headquarters Additional Deputy Inspector General (Training) Mia Masud Karim will lead the committee. The two other members are Hamida Parveen, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Women Support and Investigation Centre, and Rumana Akter, special superintendent (forensic) of the Criminal Investigation Division. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 15 working days. Saklain was introduced to Pori Moni in June this year when he was a supervising officer of a case filed with Airport Police Station under the Narcotics Control Act against businessman Nasir Uddin Mahmood. Read: Pori Moni ‘affair’: Now police officer Sakline faces the music Nasir was arrested by DB on June 15 from Uttara over a case filed with Savar Police Station by Pori Moni for an alleged attempt to rape and murder her. According to media reports, Saklain had been maintaining a relationship with Pori Moni secretly. But the matter came to light when members of Rapid Action Battalion detained Pori Moni from her Banani flat on August 4. They seized foreign liquor and narcotics from there. Later, a case was filed with Banani Police station against her the following day. Read: Pori Moni placed on 4-day remand CCTV footage, which was leaked recently, showed that Pori Moni went to the official flat of Saklain in Rajarbagh police officers' residential area on the morning of August 1 and came out after around 18 hours. Several media ran reports about their alleged relationship on Friday. Following the reports, ADC Saklain was relieved from his duty as ADC DB Gulshan Division on Saturday morning and was transferred to the Public Order Management West in the afternoon.

A four-member committee has been formed by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) to investigate the collision of the Shahjalal ferry with a pillar of the under-construction Padma Bridge. The committee has been asked to submit a report to the BIWTC chairman within three days. BIWTC issued an order in this regard Friday. BIWTC Director (Commerce) SM Ashiquzzaman was made the convener of the committee. Other members of the committee were BIWTA Director (Shipping) M Shahjahan, BIWTC AGM (Marine) Ahmed Ali and AGM (Engineering) Rubeluzzaman. Read: 20 hurt as ferry hits Padma bridge pillar Meanwhile, inland master officer Abdur Rahman, in-charge of the Shahjalal, was suspended for failing to operate properly. Earlier on Friday morning, Shahjalal, a Ro-Ro ferry that operates on the Shimulia-Banglabazar (Madaripur) route, crashed into the pillar near the Mawa area of Munshiganj at around 9am, causing injury to 20 people.