Kushtia
Four to hang for killing Kushtia sub-registrar
A local court on Tuesday sentenced four men to death and another one to life imprisonment for the 2018 gruesome murder of Kushtia Sadar sub-registrar Noor Mohammad Shah.
Kushtia additional district and sessions judge Tajul Islam handed down death sentences to Saidul Islam (37), Faruk Hossain (38), Kamal Sheikh (40) and Mashiul Alam (40), and life term to Monowar Hossain Dablu (38), after holding them guilty of killing Nur Mohammad.
Read:2 get death penalty for killing college student in Barishal
All the five were present in the court when the judgement was pronounced around 11 am. Among the convicts, Monwar and Saidul were employees of the Kushtia Sadar sub-registry office.
Nur Mohammad (50) was hacked to death in his house in Kushtia town on October 8 in 2018. The following day, Kamruzzaman, the brother of the deceased, filed a complaint at the Kushtia Model police station against unidentified accused.
Later, the police arrested four people in connection with the murder and seized sharp weapons and ropes from their possession. The accused later gave a confessional statement in the court.
Lethal Russell's Viper snake rescued in Kushtia
A deadly Russell's Viper, one of the most lethal snake species known to mankind, was safely released back into the wild on Saturday night, after being rescued from the Gorai River in Kushtia.
The snake was released in a remote sandbar of Kushtia after nightfall, with the help of a local nature lover and the Forest Department.
The Russell's Viper is identified as one of the 'big four' species of venomous snakes belonging to India's historic geography (that includes lands now in Bangladesh, Pakistan). It is also found commonly around farmland further east, from Indonesia to Taiwan.
Read: Rare red coral kukri snake spotted again in Panchagarh
It is one of the genera responsible for causing the most snakebite incidents and deaths among all venomous snakes due to many factors, such as their wide distribution, general aggressiveness, and frequent occurrence in highly populated areas.
Locals said Mridul Sheikh from Mangalbaria area of the town went fishing in the Gorai River on Wednesday and a five feet long snake got stuck in his net. He kept it in the bucket and brought it home as he found it to be rare. The snake's stomach was full of eggs and it was not moving much.
The fisherman was trying to sell the snake.
Being informed, Shahabuddin Milon, a nature lover and social worker from Thanapara area of Kushtia town, along with Kushtia Forest Department rescued the snake.
Read:Tk75 crore snake venom seized in Dhaka
Abdul Hamid, an official of the Kushtia Forest Department, said the snake was believed to have come from India with floodwater.
Earlier, around a week ago, another Russell viper was caught in a fishing net from the Gorai river at Chheuria in Kumarkhali area of Kushtia.
School Reopening: Instead of their playground, they came back to a paddy field
Returning after 18 months, the students of Ramnagar Paschimpara Primary School in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia district have been deprived of utilising their beloved school playground for any recreation, as the authorities concerned turned the playground into a paddy field during the pandemic-induced closure of schools. After the reopening on September 12, students all over the country returned to their classrooms with much enthusiasm after a long closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the students of Ramnagar Paschimpara Primary joined classes with a heavy sigh as they returned to see what had been their playground, had now turned into a paddy field.
This was not a case of neglect - a deliberate decision was taken to cultivate paddy on the children's playground, and implemented.
Read: School Closure: 50,000 students may have dropped out in Kurigram The paddy cultivated belongs to Ruhul Azam Keru, president of the school managing committee, who took advantage of the school closure. The students and guardians demanded justice and immediate steps in this regard. According to the school sources, the school stands on government-owned land, and the process is on to place it under government control. The officials of Upazila Primary Education Office also visited the school.
Read High school students to be vaccinated soon: DSHE chief
Talking to the reporters, the students of the school claimed that they used to have joyous times in the school playground by playing soccer and other games, but since returning they have had none of that.
6 more die of Covid in Kushtia
Six more people have died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours at Kushtia General Hospital, health officials said on Tuesday morning.
Of the deceased, three were confirmed Covid patients while the remaining three had symptoms of the virus, Kushtia General Hospital official Md Mejbaul Alam told UNB.
Read: Seven more die of Covid at Kushtia hospital
As of Tuesday morning, some 53 patients are being treated at the Covid unit of the hospital.
In the past 24 hours, some 22 people have tested positive for Covid of the 191 samples tested.
IU teacher gets best research award in Australia
Rafiquel Islam, an assistant professor of the applied chemistry and chemical engineering department of Islamic University in Kushtia, hasbeen conferred with the prestigious Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Australasia (SETAC-AU) best research publication award-2021 in Australia.
According to university sources, Rafiquel Islam is now working as a PhD researcher at the School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Australia. The subject of his research is ‘Hormonal compounds and their adverse effects on marine and estuarine aquatic life’.
He got the award for research that demonstrated how hormones act as the essential elements in the body of rock oysters.
READ: Valuables stolen from 9 rooms of IU female hall
The research was presented in an Australia Conference held on August 30 to September 2, where he received the best publication award for this research.
The research paper was published in the Elsevier Aquatic Toxicology journal earlier.
Teachers and students of different departments congratulated him as a Bengali researcher and educator.
READ: IU staff suspended after being arrested with yaba pills
Kitchen budget on fire in Kushtia
Consumer inflation is a worldwide phenomenon. But when prices of essential commodities rise during an economic downturn, the uptrend tends to erode the purchasing power of ordinary people.
Take for instance, the situation in Kushtia, where residents are forced to contend with a sudden spike in prices of essential items like sugar, flour, edible oil and pulses, against the backdrop of the Covid-induced recession.
Read Prices of daily essentials soar in kitchen markets
Many residents claim that the price rise has derailed their household budget -- this is because groceries make up the lion's share of their monthly shopping basket. They blame the government for its failure to rein in the rates amid the second wave of the pandemic.
A recent reality check by UNB at Kushtia Municipality Bazar and Boro Bazar revealed that traders have been selling soybean oil for Tk 136 a kg, a five percent hike over a week.
Also read: Spectre of panic buying returns to kitchen markets ahead of lockdown
Seven more die of Covid at Kushtia hospital
Seven more people have died of Covid-19 at Kushtia General Hospital in the past 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday morning.
Covid fatalities in the district was just one the previous day, which gave hope to its residents that the worst was over.
Read: Mentally disturbed woman drowns baby in Kushtia, held
Besides, 45 people emerged positive for Covid in the district during this period, after 259 samples were tested. The positivity rate currently stands at 17.37%.
Statistics officer of Kushtia General Hospital Md Mejbaul Alam said that a total of 80 people with Covid symptoms are currently undergoing treatment at the leading medical facility.
The number is significantly low compared to that of July and the better part of August when almost all the 250 beds of the hospital used to be occupied with Covid patients.
Read: Eight more die of Covid in Kushtia
So far, 17,688 people have been infected with the virus in the district, while the death toll reached 724 on Tuesday.
On the other hand, 12,308 people have recovered from Covid to date.
Mentally disturbed woman drowns baby in Kushtia, held
A mentally disturbed woman allegedly drowned her four-month-old child in a roadside ditch in Bheramara upazila of Kushtia Wednesday.
The deceased was identified as Yaqub Ali, son of Mohan Ali of Chakmadia village. His mother has been arrested for the alleged crime, police said on Thursday.
Read: 3 Rohingya children drown at Bhashanchar
Locals told UNB that Akhi Khatun had on a number of occasions tried to kill the baby and that was the reason why the boy was being taken care of by his grandmother.
On Wednesday, Akhi brought the child home and later threw him in the ditch near her house. Locals informed the police after spotting the body floating in the ditch.
Read:Bhasan Char escapees: 2 children's bodies wash ashore
On information, the police fished out the body and took the woman into custody.
Daulatpur Police Station OC (Investigation) Shafiq said Akhi had confessed the crime.
Injured in explosion, 'bomb maker' dies at Rajshahi hospital
A 35-year-old man, who sustained injuries in an explosion while allegedly making bombs in Kushtia district, succumbed to his wounds at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Abu Bakkar, a resident of Bilgathua village in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia.
Read:N’ganj bomb: 2 Neo- JMB men held in city
Mohammad Shafique, officer-in-charge of Daulatpur police station, said that Bakkar and his wife Madhubala, 30, were injured when a bomb exploded in their house last Thursday.
They were initially taken to Kushtia General Hospital, from where Bakkar was shifted to Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital as his condition had deteriorated.
Around 7pm on Tuesday, Bakkar died, the OC said.
Read:RAB destroys four country-made bombs in Natore
An FIR has already been filed against 13 people in connection with the explosion, and Madhubala and Abu Bakkar were named as the main accused in the case.
Madhubala managed to flee from Kushtia General Hospital, police said.
Eight more die of Covid in Kushtia
Eight more people have died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours at Kushtia General Hospital, health officials said on Saturday morning.
All the eight deceased were confirmed Covid patients and had been admitted to the hospital’s Covid unit.
READ: Nine more die of Covid in Kushtia
Kushtia General Hospital official Md Mejbaul Alam said that the number of Covid deaths increased on Saturday as compared to that of Friday but the number of Covid-infected patients have decreased.
As of Saturday morning, the infection rate in Kushtia was 19.08 percent.
READ: Kushtia logs 7 more Covid deaths
So far, 17,165 Covid-19 infected people have been identified in the district, of which 14,478 people have recovered and 693 died.