United News of Bangladesh

Police have arrested another accused in the murder case of a college student in Sirajganj, raising the total number of arrests in the case to six, police said on Saturday. The arrestee was identified as Waliullah Rifat alias Chhotra, 16, son of Shahidul Islam of Dhanbandi Mahalla under Sirajganj Municipality, said Taj Milur Rahman, inspector-in-charge of Police Outpost No. 1 of the town and the investigating officer of the case. Superintendent of Police Saiful Islam Santu said the investigation and arrest operations are being carried out under special supervision. He added that the remaining accused are expected to be arrested within the next two to four days. The victim, Abdur Rahman Riyad, 18, a first-year student of Islamia Government College, was killed in broad daylight in Sirajganj district town on December 28. Following the incident, the victim’s father, Rezaul Karim, filed a murder case naming 11 individuals and 15 to 20 unidentified persons as accused.

A Class 10 student was brutally murdered by having her throat slit with a sharp weapon in the Banasree area of the capital on Saturday. The victim, Fatema Akter Lily (17), was a Class 10 student of Radiant School. The incident occurred between 1:30pm and 3:30pm at Pritom Villa on the main road of South Banasree. Lily was the daughter of Sajib Mia of Bamoin village under Lakhai upazila in Habiganj district. She had been living with her family in a rented flat at Pritom Villa in E Block of South Banasree, under Khilgaon Police Station. Confirming the incident, Khilgaon Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Shafiqul Islam said police rushed to the scene after receiving information in the afternoon and later went to the hospital, where they found the girl with her throat slit. Her body was recovered from Farazi Hospital. “The motive behind the murder is not yet known. We are investigating the matter,” he said. Lily’s elder sister Shova said their parents had gone to their village home on Wednesday due to a land-related issue, leaving the two sisters alone at home. She said they run a hotel business and one of their employees came to the house late Thursday night to collect food, during which Lily had a brief altercation with him for arriving so late. The same employee reportedly came again on Friday evening and on Saturday afternoon. Shova said she left the house around 1:30pm to go to a nearby gym and asked Lily to lock the door from inside. Upon returning home, Shova found the gate closed but the door unlocked. Inside the house, she found the room in disarray and later discovered Lily lying curled up under a large pot-like object. Initially, she thought her sister had suffered a head injury. She said no one came forward to help take Lily to hospital, and she eventually took her to Farazi Hospital with the help of a friend and a rickshaw puller. Later, after removing Lily’s hijab, they found a rope around her neck and deep cuts on her throat inflicted with a sharp weapon. Shova alleged that the family suspects their hotel employee Milton in connection with the murder. Police said further investigation is underway and legal action will be taken based on findings.

The main shooter in the murder case of BNP leader Alamgir Hossain, Tridib Chakraborty Mishuk (30), has been arrested by DB police in Jashore. He was held on Wednesday around 7:00 pm near the Bejpara temple area of the city. Tridib is the son of Mihir Chakraborty Trinath, residing in the Chiruni Kal area. On Thursday at noon, he was produced before the court, where he confessed to the murder under Section 164 of the CrPC. The judge accepted his confession and sent him to jail. DB SI Alok Kumar De said Tridib was first identified through analysis of CCTV footage from the crime scene and surrounding areas. His location was later confirmed using mobile phone tracking, leading to his arrest. According to court and police sources, Tridib named Jamai Porosh and his associate Sagar as the main planners of the murder in his statement. The incident occurred on the night of January 3, when unknown assailants shot Alamgir Hossain, joint secretary of Ward No. 7 BNP in Jashore municipality, while he was riding a motorcycle. Alamgir’s wife Shamima filed the case against Porosh, Sagar, and other unidentified individuals. DB police immediately launched an operation to arrest the main shooter following the case. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Asadul Islam accepted Tridib’s confession and ordered him sent to jail.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard has arrested Masum Mridha, the alleged ringleader of a tourist abduction gang in the Sundarbans. It also recovered firearms, sharp weapons and ammunition during the operation. Masum, 23, was detained Wednesday in Dhanakhali, Terokhada upazila, Khulna, following intelligence and drone surveillance operations. Information from Masum led authorities to several firearms, edged weapons and bullets. Earlier, the Coast Guard rescued two kidnapped tourists and a resort owner and arrested eight members of the gang. Recovered weapons included three homemade one-shooter pipe guns, eight live cartridges, four blank cartridges, a Chinese axe, two local axes, a cleaver, a steel pipe, and several drug-use items. Five mobile phones and a wristwatch belonging to the hostages were also recovered. Masum hails from Bipra Azgra village in Terokhada. His eight accomplices, aged between 24 and 55, are from different areas of Khulna district. Masum’s eight accomplices have been identified as Md. Ifaz Fakir (25), Kuddus Hawladar (40), Md. Salam Box (24), Zainabi Bibi (55), Alam Matbor (38), Ayon Kundu (30), Md. Maharaj Hawladar (25), and Mosha Mridha (55). According to the Coast Guard, on January 2, Masum and his team abducted two tourists and a resort owner from the Sundarbans, demanding ransom. A 48-hour coordinated operation, including financial tracing and intelligence, drone surveillance, led to the hostages’ safe release and the arrest of gang members. Over the past year, Coast Guard operations in the Sundarbans have seized 38 firearms, two grenades, 74 homemade weapons, equipment for weapon-making, 448 rounds of ammunition, rescued 52 hostages, and arrested 49 active gang members.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Thursday decided to file a case against 12 people including Orion Group Chairman Mohammad Obaidul Karim and 11 top bank officials of Mercantile Bank over allegations of embezzling over Tk 507 crore by illegally obtaining loan facilities. The decision was taken at the ACC headquarters on Thursday, ACC Director General Md Akhtar Hossain said. According to the investigation report, the accused allegedly colluded to violate banking laws and regulations by approving loans without adequate collateral, converting foreign currency loans from the offshore banking unit into domestic unit loans, creating new loans to repay classified ones, and unreasonably extending loan tenures by up to seven years. The ACC found evidence that these irregularities were carried out to provide unlawful benefits, resulting in the misappropriation of the money. The commission will proceed with legal action based on the findings of the inquiry, the ACC official added.  

Police have uncovered an illegal iPhone assembly factory operated by some Chinese nationals and arrested three of them from separate areas in the capital.   Detective Branch Mirpur Division Deputy Commissioner Mahiuddin Mahmud Sohel disclosed the information on at a press briefing at the DMP media centre on Thursday. A total of 363 iPhone sets of various models along with iPhone parts and different mobile phone manufacturing machinery were recovered during the operation.   He said tipped off, DB police conducted simultaneous raids on January 7 in Uttara Sector-17 and Nikunja-1 separately.   During the raids, one Chinese national was arrested from Uttara along with 58 mobile phones sets while two other Chinese nationals were arrested from Nikunja-1 with 305 mobile phones.   DC Mahiuddin Mahmud Sohel also said preliminary investigation revealed that the gang illegally brought different iPhone parts into the country separately from abroad and set up a secret lab in Dhaka.   The parts were assembled there to produce fake mobile phones resembling iPhones which were later sold in the market as original devices.   He added that the group had been carrying out the illegal operation for around one and a half years and was suspected of supplying a large number of counterfeit mobile phones during that period.   Asked whether Bangladeshi people were involved in the syndicate, he said several names have emerged during the investigation but details could not be disclosed in the interest of probe.   The DB official urged people to remain cautious while purchasing mobile phones saying many buyers were falling victim to fraud due to the lure of low-priced ‘original iPhones.’   He advised to purchasing mobile phones only from authorised and official showrooms or trusted sources.   Police said legal action against those involved is underway.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested an accused in the murder case of Liza Akhter, who was shot dead during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement in the capital’s Shantinagar area. The arrest was made after one year and five months of the incident. The arrestee is Mahtab Hossain Rudra (25), son of Kohidur Rahman and Maseda Begum, a resident of Rameshwar Sharma village under Ulipur upazila in Kurigram district. He was arrested at around 2:30 am on Wednesday from the Nabinagar Housing area under Mohammadpur Police Station by a joint operational team of CID’s Dhaka Metro South Unit and LIC Branch, said Special Superintendent of Police (SP) of CID (Media) . According to case details, on July 18, 2024, at around 5:00 pm, violence erupted at Shantinagar Mor and Siddheshwari New Circular Road area under Ramna Police Station during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. At that time, Liza Akhter, who was standing on the balcony of a 14th-floor flat of Kanif Tower, was hit by a bullet. She was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and later died on July 22, 2024, while undergoing treatment at Popular Hospital in Dhanmondi. Following the incident, Ramna Model Police Station (DMP) registered a case (No. 01 dated September 5, 2024) under sections 143/147/323/307/302/114/34 of the Penal Code along with sections 3/4/6 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. Preliminary investigation revealed that on the day of the incident, accused Mahtab Hossain Rudra was present with helmet-wearing Awami League activists, including local leader Mostafa Zaman Papi, and took part in violent activities aimed at suppressing the movement. After the incident, the accused went into hiding. Based on a tip-off, CID arrested him from the Mohammadpur area. The case is currently under investigation, and further legal action will be taken upon completion of the probe.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday arrested the District Primary Education Officer of Jashore, Md Ashraful Alam, red-handed while receiving a bribe of Tk 1.20 lakh. The arrest followed a written complaint filed by Md Nurunnabi, alleging that the accused demanded bribes by unlawfully withholding pension and salary equalisation files. After preliminary verification found the allegation to be true, the ACC, with due approval, decided to conduct a trap operation. Accordingly, Tk 1,20,000 was taken from the complainant and, at around 1:30 pm on January 7 , was handed back to him after preparing an inventory in the presence of independent witnesses. Later, at around 4:30 pm the same day, the complainant went to the office room of the accused and, in response to his demand, handed over the bribe money. The accused received the cash and kept it in the drawer on the right side of his office table. Upon receiving the signal, the ACC trap team immediately entered the office and, in the presence of independent witnesses, recovered the bribe money from the drawer of the accused’s office table. The cash was seized following due legal procedure. As Md Ashraful Alam committed a punishable offence by accepting bribes under Section 161 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, a case (No. 01) was filed against him at the ACC Integrated District Office, Jashore, on January 7, 2026.

Kadamtali thana police of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have found a man who was reported missing from the capital at a drug rehabilitation centre. The man was identified as Mohammad Washim Ahmed Mukchan, 40, who was reported missing from the capital and later found in a drug rehabilitation centre, unraveling the mystery surrounding his disappearance. On Saturday (Jan 4), Sharmin Akter Tumpa, wife of the missing man Washim, registered a missing general diary with Kadamtali Police Station, alleging that her husband was taken away by five to six unidentified individuals posing as law enforcement personnel at around 5:00am from their rented residence in the Rajabari Ali Bahar area under Kadamtali Police Station. Immediately after receiving the complaint, Kadamtali thana police launched an investigation and contacted Washim’s parents and brothers in an effort to trace him. However, they failed to provide any concrete information. Later, through analysis of CCTV footage from the area and with the help of information technology, Kadamtali police on Tuesday (Jan 6) traced Washim from a drug rehabilitation centre located in the Merajnagar area under the same police station, said DMP’s DC (Media) Talebur Rahman on Wednesday. According to police sources, Washim and his wife were living separately from the rest of the family in a rented house. Due to Washim’s drug addiction, his younger brother Rakib, with the consent of other family members but without the knowledge of Washim’s wife, admitted him to a local drug rehabilitation centre in the early hours of the day of the incident. The investigation also revealed that early morning hours are often chosen as it is easier to bring drug addicts to rehabilitation centres at that time. However, police found no evidence supporting the claim that Washim was taken away by individuals posing as law enforcement personnel. Washim Ahmed Mukchan was later handed over to his wife, Sharmin Akter Tumpa, in the presence of other family members following her application.

The killing of Inqilab Moncho spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi was driven by political vengeance, said Md Shafiqul Islam, Additional Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Detective Branch (DB), on Tuesday. Former Dhaka North City Corporation ward councillor and Jubo League leader Taizul Islam Chowdhury Bappi had ordered Hadi’s killing, he told a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre. “Hadi had initiated a different political discourse and made strong critical statements about past activities of the Awami League and its banned student wing, Chhatra League, which angered AL and BCL leaders and activists,” Shafiqul said. Fugitive Faisal Karim Masud, also known as Rahul or Daud Khan, who was involved in Chhatra League politics, shot and injured Hadi, the DB chief added. He said Faisal and his associate Alamgir Hossain were later aided in their escape by Bappi. Shafiqul Islam also said that a chargesheet naming 17 people has been submitted at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Of the accused, 12 are currently behind bars, while five, including prime accused shooter Faisal and motorcycle rider Alamgir, remain at large. Efforts to arrest the fugitives are ongoing. Osman Hadi, a prospective candidate for the Dhaka-8 constituency, was shot in the head on December 12 while travelling in a rickshaw on Culvert Road in Purana Paltan. He was airlifted to Singapore for advanced treatment but succumbed to his injuries on the night of December 18. He was laid to rest on December 20 beside the grave of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam at Dhaka University. On December 28, Inqilab Moncho announced a four-point demand seeking justice for Hadi. The group demanded that all involved, including the perpetrator, planner, aides, those who helped in the escape and those who provided shelter—be brought to justice within 24 days. RAB intensifies hunt for prime suspects in Hadi murder case They also called for the cancellation of work permits of all Indian nationals residing in Bangladesh, and if India refuses to repatriate accused murderers taking refuge there, a case should be filed at the International Court of Justice. The group further demanded that alleged ‘fascist accomplices’ within the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence be identified, arrested, and prosecuted. On Tuesday, Inqilab Moncho began its ‘March for Justice’ from Shahbagh, pressing for accountability in Hadi’s killing and the fulfilment of its four-point demand.