United News of Bangladesh

A 20-year-old woman was raped allegedly by an official of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) at Mirzapur road in Khulna city on Sunday. Police said a college student came to PBI Inspector Majurul Ahsan Masud five days ago following a cyber-issue. The crime occurred on Sunday noon when Inspector Masud took her to a newspaper office at Mirzapur Road promising her to solve the problem. Also read: Female UP member ‘raped’ in Rajshahi: 5 held The victim immediately lodged an FIR at the Khulna Sadar police station, said Hasan Al Mamun, officer-in-charge (OC) of Khulna Sadar police station. The woman was sent to the One Stop Crisis Center (OCC) of Khulna Medical College Hospital for medical examination, he added. The evidence of the crime was found primarily, said the OC. Also read: College student accuses former lover of rape with promise of marriage in Kurigram Processes are underway to file a case in this regard, he added, saying, “Efforts are on to nab the police official.”

An imported high-speed patrol boat for Chattogram port’s internal communication has arrived from Italy MV Songa Cheeta, the container ship carrying the boat, was berthed at the CCT jetty of the port on Sunday, said the port authority. It arrived at outer anchorage on Saturday completing a 26-day journey starting from Italy’s Salerno port on April 18. The speed boat bought from Italy has cost the port authority Tk 22 crore. It will be used for fast movement of port pilots from Patenga to Matarbari deep sea port and to avoid unexpected accidents at outer anchorage. Also read: First container ship leaves for Italy from Ctg port with RMG goods The boat with 16.5 meters length and 1.2 meters depth was made at FB Design yard in Italy. The boat has modern navigational equipment, satellite radar, satellite compass, two engines, three generators and other necessary instruments. The boat can carry 16 passengers at a time and will be able to turn on its own if it capsizes due to catastrophic weather, said the authority. Also read: Crew of sunken ship stranded in Kolkata for 5 weeks; out of money, may stop getting food Md Omar Faruq, Secretary of Chattogram port authority said, “The boat can be unloaded after 300 containers. A total of 10 staff, officials of the port’s shipping department are being trained to operate the boat.” “The boat will be sent for trial operation after unloading and clearance from customs. After trial it will be kept at the service jetty of berth-1,” he said.

Demonstrating workers of Barapukuria Coal Mine have suspended their two months long movement for returning to work and demanding arrears after getting partial acceptance from the authority. Robiul Islam, President of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union said on Friday night in a meeting the authority agreed to let the workers join work in phases. “Regarding the payment of eight months' arrears a decision will be taken after a meeting with the workers’ representative in Petrobangla in Dhaka,” he said. Also read: Barapukuria coal mine workers continue demo demanding arrears “On Saturday, in the first phase 212 workers’ samples were sent for Covid-19 test. If they test negative they will be able to rejoin work after staying in quarantine for a week to 1o days inside the mine premises,” said Kamruzzaman Khan, Managing Director Engineer of Barapukuria Coal Mine. He said all the 850 workers will be allowed to join work again. The workers have been holding different programmes since March to press home their demands. Robiul Islam Robi, president of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union said,”Around 1100 local miners excavate coal from the mine under three Chinease contractor companies CMC, XMC and JXMC.” Also read: Barapukuria Coal Mine workers give 72 hour-ultimatum for payment of arrears Of them 700 were supposed to get monthly Tk 4,000 each as allowance during their lay off due to Covid-19 pandemic but in the last 8 months they neither received any allowances nor were allowed to rejoin work. Meanwhile, the contracting companies forced 400 workers to stay inside the mine and work without allowing them to meet their families.

Police Sunday recovered the body of a food warehouse official hanging from the ceiling of his office in Madaripur. The deceased Mohammad Kamrul Islam, 40, was from Gosairhat, Shariatpur district. He used to work as the officer-in-charge of Charmuguria Food Warehouse at Nayachar in Madaripur Sadar upazila. When employees of the office found Kamrul's body hanging in front of a bathroom in the morning, they contacted the police. Police then took the body down and sent it to Sadar Hospital morgue for an autopsy, Madaripur Additional Superintendent of Police Chaulai Marma said. "We are trying to find out if the death was a suicide or murder." Later, the Sadar upazila administration sealed off the warehouse.

Mother fish of different species have released 'sample eggs' at several places in the Halda River, the only natural fish spawning centre in South Asia. The fishers said they found 50 to 200 grams of eggs in some places, including Machuaghona and Nayahat, in the coast of Halda after 12 pm on Saturday. Also read:Halda River under CCTV surveillance Hathazari upazila administration and local egg collectors confirmed the release of sample eggs. The indigenous fish species including Ruhi, Mrigel, Katol and Kalbaush started releasing eggs after heavy rain with thunderbolts due to cyclone ‘Asani’ for the last few days. Egg collectors and persons concerned were waiting in the river as the full breeding season started from the beginning of May. They are hoping that if there is heavy rain with thunderstorms on the current full moon day, mother fish can start releasing eggs in full swing in the river during high tide or low tide.

Two policemen were injured in an attack by an accused and his associates when they raided a house at Adharmanik Nalarkil in Lohagarah upazila of Chattogram district on Sunday. The injured were Jony Khan, 30 and Shahadat, 27—two constables of Lohagarah Police Station. They are now undergoing treatment at Chattogram Medical College and Hospital. Of them, the left hand of Jony was severed during the attack. Also read:Two cops among 4 stabbed by drug peddlers in Lalmonirhat Atiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Lohagarah Police Station, said a team of police led by sub-inspector Bhakta Chandra Datta raided the house of Kabir Ahmed, an accused in different cases, to arrest him in the morning. At one stage, Kabir along with his associates attacked the police team and severed the left wrist of Jony. “Efforts are on to arrest the attackers,” said the OC.

A human trafficking gang has asked for Tk 8.5 lakh each for sparing the lives of four illegal Italy immigration seeker men from Habiganj.  The missing men were identified as MD Sajanur Rahman, 35, son of Abdul Mukit Khan from Paschimbagh village in Ajmiriganj upazila, Afzal, son of Sajlu Mia from the same village, Md Nasir Mia,20, son of Sekular Mia, and Ujjal, 27, son of safar Ali from noabad area in Habiganj city, according to their families.  The gang asked for the money over phone calls on Wednesday and said they would dump their bodies in the Mediterranean Sea if they don’t get it by Monday, said the family members of the hostage immigration seekers.  Read: 9 killed in Gopalganj road crash “Sajanur left for Italy on February last year and reached Benghazi in Libya with the help of a broker named Marutza but he sold my brother to another broker named Sabu Mia But Sajanur got caught by Coast Guards there and had to pay Tk 3 lakh as fine. Later another broker named Taimur who used to live in Noabad in Habiganj city took the responsibility of sending him to Italy,” said Md Asiur Rahman, a primary school teacher and brother of Sajanur Rahman.  Asiur Rahman said different brokers have so far taken around Tk 12 lakh from them and now they are worried how they will pay the ransom money.  “My brother took up the illegal way to change the economic condition of family only. My brother told on phone the traffickers have kept nine people from Habiganj in a boat at Mediterranean Sea and were torturing them.” Said Asiur Rahman.  Martuza Hasan, Chairman of Ajmiriganj Upazila Parishad confirmed his relative Sajanur’s family received calls from some traffickers demanding money. “But I have no idea about other people who were threatened, “he said.  Afzal’s father Sazlu Mia, Nasir’s father Sekular Mia and Ujjal’s father-in-law Md Faruq Mia claimed all of them were kept hostage by a gang of broker which is led by a local broker named Taimur Mia. They said they are all too poor to pay the ransom money and fearing their relatives will be killed soon.  Meanwhile Taimur’s wife claimed she has no idea about such incident and she has no contact with her husband for a long time. 

A teenage madrasa student reportedly committed suicide in Mominbagh area of sadar upazila in Chandpur district Saturday morning. The deceased was identified as Rina Akter, 14, daughter of Habib Sheikh of the area. She was a student of class IV of a madrasa in Puran Bazar area. Rina’s aunt Amena Begum said that her mother scolded Rina for not giving attention to her studies. Also Read: Ctg youth who dreamt of becoming a cricketer commits suicide Being agitated, Rina locked the door of a room and hanged herself from the ceiling with a scarf. Later, with the help of neighbours, Rina's mother open broke the door of the house and  took her to Chandpur Government General Hospital where doctors declared her dead. A Rashid,  officer-in-charge of Chandpur Sadar Model Police Station,  said the body has been sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy.  

A 60-year-old woman was crushed under the wheels of a train at Thakurgaon railway station on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Rashida Begum, wife of Yusuf Ali of Akcha-Bakserhat village in Sadar upazila. Witnesses said Rashida came to see off her son Rabiul Islam who was going to Dhaka. Also read: 2 crushed under trains in B’baria When she tried to get off the moving train hurriedly she fell on the rail tracks and was crushed under its wheels . Assistant station master of Thakurgaon railway Anup Basak said that the body will be handed over to the family with the permission of the authorities concerned. Also read: 2 REB staffers killed in Jamalpur train accident

Heavy summer rains pouring since Friday morning inundated parts of Kurigram district damaging ready-to-harvest paddy crops in fields the district. The local Met office recorded 126 mm of rain in five hours this morning. As a result, Boro crops on hundreds of bighas of land got inundated. According to the Kurigram Agriculture Extension Department, Boro has been planted in 1 lakh 16 thousand hectares of land in the district this year. Read: Rivers in Sylhet and Sunamganj in spate after heavy rains Shahidul Islam, a farmer from Kanchichar area of Sadar's Panchgachhi union, said, he cultivated boro paddy on 2 bighas of land." The yield was also very good and the paddy is ripe. But half of his paddy land has been submerged in rainwater, he added. Sabur Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rajarhat Meteorological Observatory in Kurigram, said 126 mm of rainfall was recorded in Kurigram on Friday morning. The Met office forecast heavy rain with gusty winds in different parts of Rangpur division in the next 24 hours.   End/UNB/Corr/SIS/F 2317