United News of Bangladesh

Three cops were injured after a group of miscreants allegedly attacked a police team and vandalised their vehicle in a bid to free an arrestee in Khulna. The miscreants attacked the police team around 11.30pm on Monday in the Purba Baniakhamar area of the city during a raid, said Hasan Al Mamun, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station. The injured cops have been identified as inspector (investigation) Shahriar Hasan, sub-inspector Rakibul Islam Rakib and constable Mahabub Islam from Khan Jahan Ali police station. Also read: Highways to calm Padma bridge traffic in Khulna Inspector Shahriar said they arrested a man named Khairul, 30, from Pother Bazar Check Post with 500 gm gunpowder around 4.30pm on Monday. "Around 9pm, we arrested two more people, named Ismail Hossain and Ibrahim Hossain, following a raid in the Bara Masjid Mor area after Khayrul named them during interrogation," he said. Also read: Hi-Tech Park to turn Khulna industrial area into tech-based zone: Palak On their way back, Khairul’s father Mohammad with some people attacked the police vehicle. "They tried to free Khairul but failed," said inspector Shahriar Hasan. Steps will be taken against the attackers, said OC Hasan.

Police arrested a woman from Borhanuddin upazila in Bhola for torturing her seven-year-old granddaughter on allegation of stealing a mobile phone. Police made the arrest conducting a drive on Sunday after a video of the brutal torture went viral on social media, said Shahin Fakir, Officer-in-Charge of Borhanuddin police station. The arrestee was identified as Asma Begum from Barapata village of Deula union in the upazila. Victim Tanisha’s mother Monwara Begum filed a case with police in this regard and the accused was sent to jail after being produced before the court on Monday, said OC Shahin Fakir. According to police, Tanisha’s parents Md Harun Howladar and Monwara Begum were divorced six years ago and both of them got married to other people later. Tanisha used to live with her maternal grandmother and just recently she came to visit her paternal grandmother’s house in Barapata village. On Thursday, after a smartphone got stolen from the house, Tanisha’s grandmother Asma Begum accused her and brutally tortured her. But a local teen recorded the incident with his phone which later went viral on social media and caught attention of police. In that video, Asma gripped Tanisha by hair and was pulling her toward inside the house as she kept crying for help. She later plucked Tanisha's nail using pliers and tied her with a tree. Later locals rescued her and admitted her to upazila health complex, said OC Shahin Kabir. The girl is currently  under her mother’s custody, he said. Also read: Overzealous woman in viral incident at Narsingdi station held for assault

President  Abdul Hamid on Monday asked the authorities concerned to continue their efforts to increase the number of scouts alongside ensuring their quality through effective training. The President, also the Chief Scouts, came up with the directions while inaugurating the 50th Annual General Meeting (Golden Jubilee) of the National Council of Bangladesh Scouts and the awards giving ceremony at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city.  The President virtually joined the function from the Gallery Hall of the Bangabhaban while Bangladesh Scouts President Md Abul Kalam Azad and Chief National Commissioner Md Mozammel Haque Khan also took part in the event there. Lauding the significant role of the scouts in serving the victims of disasters, including floods, cyclones, tidal surges and fires, in creating awareness about tree plantation, sanitation, health education, EPI programs, power and energy conservation, traffic management and the environment leading their respective fields of service. "Bangladesh Scouts have formed 48 disaster response teams to deal with disasters. The scouts are also playing an important role, ” said Abdul Hamid Mentioning scouting as an international voluntary, non-political and educational movement and in addition to conventional education, he also called upon all concerned to involve more youths in scouting side by side with the academic feat to build them good citizens. Also Read: President Hamid unveils inaugural envelope of census  He added that the main objective of scouting is to develop children, adolescents and youths as ideal citizens through education through continuous and planned programs as scouting is a complementary education system. Hamid said the scout movement is advancing with its outstanding contributions as well as glory in 171 countries across the globe while the number of scouts in Bangladesh at present is around 22 lakh. The President said the government has extended all possible cooperation to promote the scout movement in Bangladesh. Through this, the capacity of Bangladesh Scouts will be further enhanced and the Scout members will be able to play a more effective role in building the country and the nation by imparting advanced training. Emphasizing on empowerment of women in Bangladesh, he said boys as well as girls should be equally involved in scouting and if girls are left behind, the country’s development will be hampered. Extending his best wishes and congratulations to all the scouts and rover scouts and leaders and guardians who have won the 'President's Scout Award', the highest award of 794 scouts in 2020 and the 'President's Rover Scout Award', the highest award of 14 Rover Scouts, he advised the scouters to reflect the scout ideology in everyone’s respective works in their personal, family and social life and dedicate themselves to the country’s development as a true patriot and volunteers. The President said that nowadays, especially in urban areas, young boys are getting involved in various criminal activities including drugs and juvenile gangs.  He said scouting as one of the most important tools to keep children, adolescents and youth away from criminal activities, bigotry, sectarianism, terrorism and militancy.

Cattle farmers in Shahzadpur upazila of Sirajganj district are worried over the sudden outbreak of lumpy skin disease affecting the livestock ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Already 200 cattle in the upazila have been infected with the disease within one week. Sources said nearly three lakh cattle have been reared in the upazila and there are 7,000 cattle farms. The cattle farmers of the upazila reared one lakh cattle for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha which will be taken to different cattle markets including Dhaka. But due to the sudden outbreak of lumpy skin disease, the cattle farmers in the upazila are passing their days in worry of spreading the disease to every corner of the upazila. Though the upazila veterinary office injected vaccines to the infected cattle, they did not find any positive output in this regard. Talking to some cattle farmers including Yeasin Mollah and Farhad Hossain, they said they are busy rearing cattle aiming to meet the demand of sacrificial animals during Eid-ul-Azha. They are preparing to sell their cattle in the local haat before Eid and after getting money they will meet their domestic expenses in the whole year. If the skin disease spreads to the other cattle they will have to face losses, said the farmers. Also Read: Sher Khan may trigger bull run in Kushtia cattle market Many cattle in Potazia, Reshambari, Choto chamtara, Angaru and Barabil in Shahzadpur upazila have been reported to be infected with lumpy skin disease. Saidul Islam, a veterinary physician, said the farmers in the upazila were found frustrated with the spread of lumpy skin disease and a number of cattle were found to be infected in Ullapara and Raiganj upazila of the district too.  Dr Mizanur Rahman, Upazila Livestock Officer, said the cattle farmers might have been affected by the spread of the disease and 200 cattle have been diagnosed with the disease within one week. Already directives have been given to bring the cattle under vaccination, he said.

A court here on Monday sent Zakaria Pintu, fugitive death row convict of a case filed over the attack on a train carrying the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in 1994, to jail. He was produced before court around 2 pm and the court directed to send him to Pabna jail, said Ataur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Detective Branch of Pabna police. On Saturday night, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested Zakaria Pintu, 50, of Ishwardi, from Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar during a drive. Also read: 1994 assassination attempt: Fugitive death row convict held in city Pintu was former general secretary of BNP and then general secretary of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal in 1994. Pintu was transferred to Ishwardi police station on Sunday and was kept under the custody of district DB police, said OC Ataur Rahman. During primary interrogation, Pintu confessed that he was a fugitive accused of carrying out bomb attack on a train at Ishwardi railway station with the intention of killing the now Prime Minister. Pintu was convicted in two murder case in Ishwardi in 1994 and in 2009. He was later arrested along with arms by law enforcers in 2011 and sentenced to 17 years in jail in an arms case. Apart from the death sentence and imprisonment, there are six arrest warrants and 19 cases filed against him over various crimes, including terrorist activities, establishing dominance and extortion. In 2015, he also took part in a local election in Pabna's Ishwardi as an independent candidate and lost it. On September 23 in 1994, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was travelling to Syedpur from Khulna in a train and was attacked with bombs and gunshots at Ishwardi Railway station, as per the release. A case was filed under the Explosives Act and Special Powers Act at Ishwardi GRP Police Station in Pabna in this regard. Later, the investigating officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a chargesheet against a total of 52 people on April 3 in 1997, it added. After long proceedings, nine accused, including Pintu, were sentenced to death while 25 to life imprisonment and 13 others to 10 years in prison on July 3, 2019. He went into hiding soon after the sentence in the assassination attempt case was announced in 2019. He fled to India on the day following the judgment. After staying there for some days, he returned to the country and went into hiding in different parts of the country, including Dhaka, Rajshahi and Cox's Bazar. He was last detained by RAB-2 while hiding at his friend's house in Teknaf of Cox's Bazar.

Four people were injured when an onion-laden truck overturned on the viaduct road of Padma Bridge at Mawa point in Munshiganj district on Monday, said police. The identities of the injured could not be known immediately. Also read: Youth fined for violating rules on Padma Bridge Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Padma Bridge North side Police Station said accident occurred in the afternoon when the Dhaka-bound onion-laden truck turned turtle and crashed with a fence of the bridge after being hit by another jeep on the viaduct of Padma Bridge, leaving four people including tis driver injured. The injured were taken to Srinagar Upazila Health Complex. Police arrested Abdur Razzak, 28, the driver of the jeep in this connection. Also read: 2 motorcyclists injured in first accident on Padma Bridge die Vehicular movement on the Padma Bridge came to a halt for some time due to the accident.

A 28-year old mechanic died while repairing the engine of a ship at port city’s Banglabazar Ghat area on Monday. The deceased was identified as Md Imam Hossain, who used to work in a ship named Ot Polycon Pearls and was son of Md Yunus Bhandari from Fatikchari upazila. Also read: Two die from electrocution in waterlogged Chattogram city The incident occurred in the morning as Imam was repairing the engine in the ship and got electrocuted due to negligence, said Sadekur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Panchlaish police station. He was taken to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition where the doctor announced him dead on arrival. Also read: 3 brothers’ wives all die of electrocution in N’ganj His body was sent for an autopsy, said the OC.

At least 12 people including a policeman were injured in a clash between police and auto-rickshaw drivers in the Palli Bidyut area of Savar as they demonstrated to protest "police extortion". The injured were admitted to nearby medical centers for treatment. However, the identities of the injured are yet to be known. Hundreds of drivers blocked Savar's Nabinagar-Chandra highway around 12pm, creating a huge traffic jam in the area. When law enforcers tried to remove the blockade, they clashed with police, leaving 11 drivers injured. One police personnel was also hurt in the incident. The protestors also threw brickbats at the policemen while they were working on removing the blockade. Read: 20 injured as locals clash with police in N'ganj At one stage, police charged batons at the demonstrators and managed to remove them from the highway, said Atiqur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Savar Highway Police Station. However, he termed the issue of extortion and harassment on the highway as false and baseless. Legal action will be taken in this regard, said Kamruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station.   Earlier on Saturday, the workers started a three-day protest against the extortion and harassment of autorickshaw and van drivers on the highway by law enforcers in the name of a fine.

A mobile court on Monday fined Tk 1000 to a young man for breaching rules while crossing the Padma Bridge, on the second day of the opening of the long-cherished bridge to vehicular traffic. The mobile court led by executive magistrate of the local administration Ashraful Kabir slapped the fine to Fakhrul Alam, a private car driver along with a group, numbering 7 to 8 for making tiktok video after parking his car on the bridge in the afternoon, said The mobile court also warned five vehicle drivers and asked them to refrain from violating the rules. Read: CID detains youth who removed nuts, bolts of Padma Bridge “The local administration has issued a mass notification on the movement of vehicles on the Padma Bridge and its maintenance following the occurrence of many incidents on the first day of opening of the bridge. Directives were also given to conduct mobile court,” he said. The government has imposed ban on plying of motorcycles on the Padma Bridge until further notice. The ban imposed by the Bridge Division under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Bridges will be effective from 6am Monday. The Press Information Department issued a notification in this regard on Sunday night.

A total of 140 medical teams are providing medical treatment to flood-hit people in Sylhet district, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday. The health department, he said, is ready to provide medical assistance to the flood victims as the water has started receding, he told in a meeting with the health officials at the conference room of Sylhet Osmani Medical College and Hospital. He also claimed that no death has been reported due to lack of medical treatment or for shortage of food in the district. This has been a great achievement, he noted. Also read: Receding flood waters reveal disastrous damage in Sylhet The government has taken steps to solve the problems faced by the community clinics, health centres and hospitals in the flood-hit areas, he said. Flood water entered the ground floor of Osmani Medical College and Hospital on June 18. Medical activity of the hospital has been hampered badly due to the flood, said the minister. The radiotherapy, CT scan and MRI machines went out of order forcing the authorities concerned to suspend the operation. The power supply also remained suspended for sometimes at the hospital as the flood water also entered into the generator room. But the authorities concerned restored the power supply instantly in an alternative way, said Maleque. He assured of taking necessary steps to prevent waterlogging. Also read: Flood situation worsens in parts of Sylhet The minister also visited the flood-hit areas in Sunamganj by a helicopter. He distributed relief materials among 7,000 people in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts.