United News of Bangladesh

A Sylhet court has sent six officials from Sylhet Medical University to jail in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged irregularities in manpower recruitment. Judge Roknuzzaman of the Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court handed down the judgement on Tuesday, rejecting the bail pleas of the accused, said ACC public prosecutor Lutful Kibria Shamim. The six officials are Md Bilal Ahmed Chowdhury, assistant controller of Examinations; Belal Uddin, section officer; Abdul Aziz, administrative officer; Md. Redwan; Abdul Majid; and Tanvir Ahmed. All six are named in the ACC charge sheet submitted in April. Earlier, on 24 April, the court issued arrest warrants against 58 individuals, including former Vice Chancellor Morshed Ahmed Chowdhury and Acting Registrar Md. Naimul Haque Chowdhury, following the ACC's submission of a comprehensive charge sheet on 20 April. According to the case statement, the University Grants Commission (UGC) received allegations of widespread irregularities and corruption in the recruitment of officials and employees at the university, which was established in 2018. Taking note of these allegations, the UGC conducted an investigation in 2023. The inquiry identified serious misconduct by senior university officials, including the former VC and registrar. Later, the ACC filed a case on April 1, 2024, against 58 officials, including the then Vice Chancellor and Acting Registrar, on charges of irregularities and corruption in the appointment of the integrated district office of Sylhet.

A court in Jashore on Tuesday sentenced private tutor Mashrur Rahman Sajib to life imprisonment for raping a college student on the promise of marriage. Justice  Ataur Rahman of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-1 handed down the verdict, also fining him Tk 25,000, with three months’ additional jail in default. Special Public Prosecutor Abdul Latif Lota confirmed the matter. According to the case statement, Sajib, son of Mizanur Rahman of Palbari Tetultola area, raped his student at her house in Jashore on June 15, 2016, when she was alone and later he maintained a physical relationship with her under false promises of marriage, secretly recording photos and videos. 3 get life imprisonment in Naogaon triple murder case When the victim pressed for marriage, Sajib cut off communication. In July 2024, his family informed the victim that Sajib had already married elsewhere. After police refused to take her complaint on August 3, 2024, she filed a case with the tribunal on August 17, 2024. Following an investigation that confirmed the allegations, the tribunal delivered the conviction and Sajib was sent to jail.

The Department of Environment conducted nationwide mobile court drives to enforce environmental laws, seizing 1,220 kg of banned polythene and 30 hydraulic horns and imposing fines totaling BDT 168,800 on Tuesday. During those drives, at least 33 cases were filed against convicts of different levels, while some were spared with warnings, including businessmen, vehicle drivers, and establishment owners. In Jashore and Dhaka (Chawkbazar and Shantinagar), 3 drives against banned polythene led to 7 cases, fines of BDT 101,000, seizure of 1220 kg of polythene, and cautionary notices to supermarket owners, shopkeepers, and the mass people. Mobile court team comes under attack during drive against sand lifting in Meghna River The authority also distributed awareness leaflets there. Under the Noise Pollution Control Rules 2006, 6 drives in Cox’s Bazar, Panchagarh, Rangpur, Rajbari, Narayanganj, and Keraniganj led to 19 cases, fines of BDT 26,800, seizure of 30 hydraulic horns, and warnings to drivers. In Khilkhet, Dhaka, a drive against excessive black smoke emissions led to four cases, collected BDT 10,000 in fines, and issued driver warnings. Also, two drives under the Air Pollution Control Rules 2022 in Panchagarh and Dhaka (Banasree and Rampura) targeted construction-related air pollution, filing 3 cases, fining BDT 31,000, issuing cautionary notices, and ordering immediate removal of materials.

A youth was arrested on charges of posting blasphemous content on social media on Monday. Kanai Chandra Das, 24, a final-year honors student of the Mathematics Department at Munshiganj Government Haraganga College and a resident of Satchar village in Kachua upazila of Chandpur. He was staying at the Haraganga College hostel. According to police, he allegedly shared a derogatory post about Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from a Facebook ID named Atheist Forum three days ago. Tensions escalated on Monday morning after the post went viral, sparking outrage among students. Around noon, Das was reportedly physically assaulted by a group of his classmates on the college campus. Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Kazi Humayun Rashid and Officer-in-Charge of Sadar Police Station Md. M Saiful Alam arrived at the scene with a team to bring the situation under control. Das was subsequently taken into custody. OC Saiful Alam said that a case is currently being processed under charges related to blasphemy.

Sylhet Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad has been made an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) following allegations of administrative involvement in the recent white stone looting incident in Bholaganj. The Ministry of Public Administration issued a notification in this regard on Monday. The decision came a day after  Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan publicly alleged that the local administration was complicit in the illegal stone extraction and promised swift action. Meanwhile, the government has appointed Md. Sarwar Alam as the new Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet. The ministry issued a separate notification on the same day confirming Sarwar's appointment. He is a deputy secretary-level officer and currently serves as Private Secretary to Law Adviser Asif Nazrul.

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Monday arrested two people along with five gold bars, weighing 831 grams, worth Tk 1.22 crore from Hamidpur Bus Stand in Jashore district. The arrestees were identified as Abdul Halim, 27, son of Abdul Goni Sardar of Rajbari district and Shahidul Islam, 29, son of Nannu Matbar of Shariatpur district. BGB detains man smuggling US dollars to India via Mujibnagar border Tipped off, a team of BGB-49 conducted a drive in the bus stand area around 9 am and arrested two people and seized five gold bars, two mobile phones, Tk 15,730 in cash from their possession, said Commanding officer of BGB-49, Lieutenant Colonel Saifullah Siddique. A case was filed in this connection.

A Dhaka court on Monday placed MyTV Chairman Nasir Uddin Sathi on a five-day remand in a murder case filed with Jatrabari Police Station. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Zia Uddin Ahmed passed the order when inspector of CID and also the investigating officer of the case Khan Md Erfan produced him before the court with seven-day remand prayer. Detectives arrested Nasir Uddin from Dhaka’s Gulshan area on Sunday. He was an accused in a murder case filed with Jatrabari police station in connection with the July uprising. According to the case statement, Asadul Haque Babu was killed during the July uprising in Jatrabari area on August 5, 2024. Joynal Abedin, father of Asadul, filed a case against 25 people including Sheikh Hasina. Nasir Uddin was the 22nd accused in the case while his son Touhid Afridi was no 11 accused in the case.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) on Monday issued warrants for the arrest of former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammad Javed Patwary and four other law enforcement officials in a case over the killing of seven youths in Gazipur in 2016. The three-member tribunal, led by its Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mazumdar, passed the order after a hearing on the case. Prosecutor MH Tamim represented the state during the hearing. Chief Prosecutor Advocate Mohammad Tajul Islam was also present. The rest of the accused who faced the arrest warrants are the then Special Branch chief Monirul Islam, former Gazipur Superintendent of Police Harun-or-Rashid, the then superintendent and assistant superintendent of police in Bogura. Besides, Javed Patwary played a role as the head of Counter Terrorism & Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit during the operation. Youth shot while clinging to ledge: Arrest warrants issued against Ex-DMP Commissioner, 3 others According to tribunal sources, law enforcers picked up seven youths from different parts of the country and kept them confined to a house in Gazipur in October, 2016. Members from the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and CTTC used 830 rounds of bullets to stage the operation as a counter-terrorism raid, on October 8. After years of the orchestrated drive, the father of one of the victims, Ibrahim, who was a madrasa student of Jatrabari, Dhaka, lodged complaints with the ICT-1. On completion of investigations, the prosecution filed a new case with the tribunal against the accused.

The government has suspended 18 police officials, including sensational Detective Branch (DB) officer Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid, for their absence in the workplaces for long without permission from the authorities concerned. A notification, signed by Nasimul Goni, senior secretary to the Police-1 Section under Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, was issued on Monday. Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid, additional police commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and former DB Chief, Sanjit Kumar Roy, joint police commissioner of DMP, Rifat Rahman Shamim, additional DIG at Chattogram Range DIG Office, Kazi Ashraful Azim, superintendent of police at Chattogram Range DIG Office, Hasan Arafat, additional SP at Police Training Centre of Khulna, Syed Nurul Islam, DIG of Bangladesh Police Academy at Sardah, Md. Asaduzzaman, SP at Bangladesh Police Academy, Mohammad Zayedul Alam, additional DIG, APBN and Specialized Training Centre in Khagrachhari, Mohammad Farid Uddin, additional DIG, APBN (Chittagong Hill Tracts), Shyamal Kumar Mukherjee, additional DIG at Rajshahi Range DIG Office, Ayesha Siddika, supernumerary additional DIG at Rajshahi Range DIG Office are among the suspended police officials. They also include Rajon Kumar Das, additional SP at 8 APBN in Cox’s Bazar, Mirza Salauddin, additional SP at Police Staff College in Dhaka, Md. Habibullah Dalal, assistant SP at Police Staff College, Rashedul Islam, additional Deputy Police Commissioner at Barishal Metropolitan Police, Md. Moniruzzaman, additional DIG at Dhaka Tourist Police, Md Abu Maruf Hossain, former Deputy Police Commissioner at Rangpur Metropolitan Police but currently with Anti-Terrorism Unit in Dhaka, and Md Ashrafuluzzaman, DIG (Commandant). The suspended officials will, however, get allowances and other facilities during the suspension, the notification says.

Detectives have arrested former Awami League MP Shafiqul Islam Opu (Jhenaidah-2) from Dhanmondi area in Dhaka. Superintendent of Police Manjur Morshed said a Detective Branch (DB) team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested him from a house on Sunday. A police team from Jhenaidah went to Dhaka to bring him back and he would be produced before a court on Monday, he said. Former MP Opu is accused in three cases including for vandalism and arson on BNP office in the district. Ex-MP Durjoy placed on 4-day remand He was elected MP from the Jhenaidah-2 seat with boat symbol in  2008 election by defeating BNP- candidate Moshiur Rahman. In 2014 election, he lost to independent candidate Tahjib Alam Siddique. Opu became president of the district unit of Awami League after then president and Jhenaidah-1 AL MP Abdul Hay had died on March 24 last year.