District
Throat-silt bodies of woman, minor boy found in Gazipur
Gazipur, Sept 18 (UNB) – Police recovered the throat-slit bodies of a woman and a madrasa student from Jugitola area in the city on Tuesday morning.
The deceased were identified as Muhmuda Akhter Smrity, 21, wife of Ibrahim Khalil, director of Huffazul Quran Madrasa and student Mamun, 7, a student of the madrasa.
Moktar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bashan Police Station, said Ibrahim Khalil and his wife used to live inside the madrasa.
Ibrahim spotted the bodies after returning home after Fazar prayer and informed police, said the OC.
The details about the killing could not be known immediately.
Benapole’s famed land port gets a tech upgrade at last
Benapole, Sept 17 (UNB) - The test of 13,000 liquids and solid chemicals can now be completed in just 30 seconds, following an upgrade in the technology installed in the country's largest land port at Benapole Customs House.
Two youths found dead in Keraniganj
Keraniganj, Sept 17 (UNB) – Police recovered the bodies of two unidentified young men from separate places here on Monday afternoon.
Khorshed Alam, sub-inspector of South Keraniganj Police Station, said they recovered a body from Char Kaliganj area and the other from the Buriganga River in the same area.
C’nawabganj farmers see bright prospect in dragon fruit farming
Chapainawabganj, Sept 17 (UNB) – Farmers of Nachole upazila in the district are showing more interest in cultivating dragon fruits commercially sensing its profitability and favourable growing condition.
The juicy fruit is known as ‘pitaya’ in Thailand and the origin of the fruit in South America. Dragon fruit belongs to cactus species and its scientific name is “Pitay”.
Rafiqul Islam along with three of his friends first started to cultivate the fruit on experimental basis in Kendobona area of the upazila.
After getting some profit, their became more interested in cultivating the profitable fruit on large scale.
Watching videos on dragon fruit cultivation on Youtube channel several years ago, Rafiqul of Balugram village in Gomostopur upazila, became enthusiastic to grow dragon fruit himself.
After consultation with the Department of Agriculture (DAE) and other people concerned, he along with his friends started to cultivate it on a six-katha land investing around Tk 1 lakh. At present, they have more than 300 dragon fruit trees in their orchard.
Although they could not make a good profit in the first year, they started getting it from the second year.
Mentioning that the cultivation of dragon fruit is profitable, Rafiqul said they are expecting good profit this year, adding, "The cultivation process is not only easy but also the required investment is very low."
Looks like cactus, each dragon tree lasts for 20-30 years and gives 20-25 fruits each season. Though the fruit is new in the country, there is a demand of the fruit among people, said Rafiqul.
He said they sell the fruit to local customers for Tk 300-400 per kilogramme.
Rafiqul’s friend and business partner Nur-e-Alam Siddiqi Babu said the demand of the fruit is increasing as it looks beautiful and the taste is also good.
Many farmers of the district are coming to see their orchard and after seeing their success, many of them showed interest in dragon fruit farming.
Agriculturist Dr Md Saifur Rahman, deputy director of Chapainawabganj Horticulture, said, “We have got success cultivating dragon fruits in our centre. Soil and weather of the district are favourable for the fruit. Besides, the taste is very same as dragon fruits grown in other countries.”
Mentioning that dragon fruit farming is profitable, he also said that there are many seasonal fruits from May to October in the country. “But, very few are grown in the period of September to October and dragon fruits are available in this time. So, the farmers can make a very good profit from selling it,” the horticulturist said.
He also said that the fruit is very nutritious and helps to control high blood pressure and diabetes.
They are encouraging local farmers by visiting their orchards as well as providing training on how to cultivate the fruit, he added.
Ctg schoolgirl’s decomposed body found 2 days after she goes missing
Chattogram, Sept 17 (UNB) – Police recovered the decomposed body of a schoolgirl in Hathazari thana of the city on Sunday night, two days after she went missing.
The deceased was identified as Tasnim Sultana Tuhin, 13, daughter of Abu Tayeb of ‘Salam Mansion’ in Shahjalal Para, and a Class-VIII student of Hathazati Girls High School and College.
Meanwhile, police arrested a drug addict, Shahnewaz Munna, 28, son of Shahjahan Siraj, a resident of the same building where Tasnim’s family lives, in connection with the murder, said Belal Uddin Jahangir, officer-in-charge of Hathazari Police Station.
Tuhin’s elder brother said their parents went to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj and they are still there. He said his sister went missing while she was going up the 1st floor of the building to her home tutor from their ground floor flat.
Later, family members filed a GD with Hathazari Model thana.
On suspicion, police detained Munna and interrogated him several times. As they failed to collect any information from Munna, they later released him.
The suspicion grew further as police came to know that Munna’s parents were not there in their flat on Friday. Later, police interrogated Munna’s parents, but they did not give any information.
As bad smell started spreading around from Munna’s house at night, locals informed the police.
Later, police recovered the body from his flat around 9:30pm.
Police and victim’s family members suspected that Munna killed Tasnim after having failed to violate her.
Hearing the body recovery of the girl, hundreds of people gathered in front of the building and staged demonstration there demanding punishment of Tasnim’s killer.
‘Drug trader’ killed in Natore ‘gunfight’
Natore, Sept 17 (UNB) – A suspected drug trader was killed in a reported gunfight with members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Katashkol Ikkhu Centre area of Boraigram upazila early Monday.
The deceased was identified as Sirajul Islam, son of Abdus Sattar of Balia Village. Sirajul was wanted in several cases, including that of drug.
Tipped off that a gang of drug traders gathered in the area, a team of Rab members conducted a drive there around 1:30am, said a Rab press release.
When the elite force asked them to surrender, the press release said, the gang members tried to flee the scene firing gunshots on them which triggered a gun battle.
After a brief gunfight, the Rab team found Sirajul lying after being hit by bullets. He was then taken to the upazila health complex where doctors declared him dead.
The Rab team recovered a foreign pistol and drugs from the spot.
Man held for killing wife in Natore
Natore, Sept 16 (UNB) – Police detained a man for allegedly stabbing his wife to death over a family feud in Purilia village of Gurudaspur upazila on Saturday night.
‘Drug trader’ killed in Jashore ‘gunfight’
Benapole, Sept 16 (UNB) – A suspected drug trader was killed in a reported gunfight between two groups of drug traders at Samta village in Sharsha upazila early Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Azizur, 40, son of Jeher Ali of the village.
Ex-MP Shah Azizur Rahman passes away
Sylhet, Sept 16 (UNB) – Freedom Fighter and former Member of Parliament Shah Md Azizur Rahman passed away at a city hospital on Sunday morning. He was 80.
Azizur Rahman who was the MP of Sylhet-2 constituency (Balaganj-Bishwanath) in 1996-2001 had been suffering from old-age complications and was on life support at the hospital.
He breathed his last around 8 am, said Sylhet Awami League organising secretary Shafiul Alam Nadel.
He left behind his wife, a son, a daughter and a host of relatives and well-wishers to mourn over his death.
Former Shibir leader held in Jashore
Jashore, Sept 16 (UNB) – Police arrested the former president of Chowgachha upazila unit Islami Chhatra Shibir, a student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, from Niyamatpur village early Sunday on charges of plotting sabotage.
The arrestee was identified as Mizanur Rahman, son of Abul Kalam of the village.
Mizanur was the president of upazila unit Shibir in 2012. Later, he went to Malaysia for higher studies and returned home several days ago, said sources.
Being informed of his return, a team of police arrested him on sabotage charges, said Sub-inspector Nasir Uddin of Chowgachha Police Station.