Unidentified assailants shot and stabbed to death a Rohingya leader in a refugee camp in Ukhiya upazila of the district early Tuesday. Shahab Uddin, 35, was a sub-leader, locally known as sub-majhi, of the No 12 Rohingya camp. He was also son of Monir Ahmed of the H/14 Block of the same camp. Sheikh Mohammad Ali, officer-in-charge of Ukhiya police station, said a group of criminals numbering 20 to 30 swooped on him after entering his house around 4.30am. Read more: 29 indicted for killing Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah The criminals stabbed him in the chest, right hand and other organs of the body and shot him to ensure his death, leaving him dead on the spot, he said. “Primarily it was learned that trying to establish influence over several groups at the camp led to the killing,” he said, adding that the exact reason for the murder could not be known from the victim’s family and others. Read more: Two more Rohingya community leaders killed in ambush inside camps The patrolling by the law enforcers was beefed up to ward off any further incident, the OC said, adding that the body was sent to Cox’s Bazar Sadar hospital morgue for autopsy.  

The High Court (HC) on Tuesday ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to complete the probe into the loan scam cases of Basic Bank in the next three months. HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order dismissing the rule regarding the bail of Mohammad Ali, former manager of Basic Bank's Shantinagar branch, in three cases. HC also directed to take action against the ACC according to the law if the probe is not completed within this time frame. Read more: ACC prosecutes 3 BASIC Bank officials for graft The HC also asked for the probe report of these cases filed seven years ago to the court concerned within the next three months. An affidavit must also be filed in the High Court after submitting the report. Mohammad Ali was made the accused in 12 cases out of 56 cases of Basic Bank loan scam. ACC arrested him on June 9 in 2019. On April 20 this year, the High Court issued a rule on hearing of his bail plea filed in three cases at Paltan police station over embezzling Tk 178 crore. Following the rule, a hearing was held in the HC on November 8 and asked for updated information on the Basic Bank loan scam. Read more: HC stays Basic Bank’s move to change salary structure According to the ACC report, about 56 cases over embezzlement of around Tk 2,590 crore from different branches of the bank have been filed so far. But the probe of the 56 cases over the Basic Bank loan scam has not been completed yet. One of the reasons why the probe is taking so long is that the embezzled money has been fully withdrawn in cash to conceal the location of the money, ACC said in their report. Besides, identifying important witnesses in the case and taking their statements (under Section 161) has become difficult.

The High Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader to perform the duties of his post. The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal passed the order following a revision petition filed by Quader challenging the lower court order, his lawyer Sheikh Muhammed Serajul Islam, said. There is no legal bar for GM Quader to perform the duties of Jatiya Party chairman following the HC order, he said. Read more: JP: Court clears petition on withdrawal of ban of GM Quader’s party activities Advocate Sheikh Muhammad Sirajul Islam stood in the court on behalf of GM Quader while Deputy Attorney General Sahida Khatun, Assistant Attorney General Kohinoor Akhtar and Sabina Parveen represented the state. Jatiya Party's suspended leader and former lawmaker Ziaul Haque Mridha filed the case against GM Quader on October 4 and the court on October 31 had issued the order. On October 6, several lawyers including Sheikh Sirajul Islam and Kalim Ullah Majumdar stood for GM Quader with a petition to withdraw the ban on his political activities at the court. In the petition, the lawyers also urged the court to lift the embargo to play his role as Chairman as per the constitution of the party. Dhaka Joint District Sessions Judge court-1 issued a temporary embargo on the political activities of GM Quader after the plaintiff of the case lodged a petition on October 31. The party-backed lawmaker Mashiur Rahman Ranga filed another case against four people including GM Quader on the same demand at the same court on October 3. Read more: Govt cheating nation in name of development before democracy: GM Quader According to the case statement, the party’s founder HM Ershad died   on September 14, 2019. Quader declared himself as chairman of the party through forgery at a council on December 28, 2019 when a writ petition case was pending at the High Court. Later, Quader as party chairman fired several leaders including Ranga, Gazipur metropolitan unit’s advisor Ataur Rahman Sarkar and Organising Secretary Sabur Sikdar, among others, by exercising his power as per the constitution of the party. Besides, Ranga was also removed from the post of presidium member of the party on September 14 and Advocate Ziaul Hoque Mridha from the party on September 17. In the case, orders were sought to declare all removals from December 28, 2019, to September 17, 2022  and council as illegal while the next council of the party to keep stayed unless the HC writ petition is disposed of.

A court here on Tuesday sentenced three people to life imprisonment in a case over killing a man in Kushtia sadar upazila in 2009. The lifers are- Ali Reza Siddique Bulbul alias Bara Kalu, the regional chief of Jasad Gana Bahini, Manowar alias Mono, son of late Asem Ali of Mrittikapara area of the same upazila and Liakat son of Jalil of Maijpara area. Kushtia District and Sessions Judge Tajul Islam handed down the judgment in the absence of the convicts at noon. Read: Ayat murder in Ctg: Accused’s parents put on 3-day remand The convicts were fined Tk 25,000 each, in default, to suffer another year of imprisonment, said Anup Kumar Nandi, Public Prosecutor (PP) of Kushtia Judge Court. According to the statement, on June 27, 2009, Liton Biswas, 30, went missing and police recovered his severed head from near the Kushtia-Jhenaidah highway in front of the main gate of Kushtia Islamic University. Later, a case was filed at the Islamic University Police Station. After an investigation, police submitted a charge sheet before the court on February 28, 2011. The court also acquitted 21 others due to a lack of evidence.  

A court in Chattogram on Tuesday placed parents of Abir Ali, the prime accused in a case over kidnapping and murdering of seven-year-old Ayat in the city, on a three-day remand. Those remanded are Van puller Azharul Islam and his wife Aleya Begum. Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Oliullah passed the order when Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) produced them before the court seeking a seven-day remand. Read more: 1 arrested involving murder of 7-yr-old girl in Ctg After interrogating them, it will be known whether Abir  killed the child and threw the body into the sea after slicing it into six pieces only for ransom or any other reason, said plaintiff’s counsel Advocate Selim Ullah Chowdhury. Police arrested Abir’s parents Azharul and Aleya from their residence at Bandartila of the city on Monday night. Abir was put on another seven-day remand on the same day on completion of his two-day remand. On November 25, PBI arrested Abir for kidnapping and murdering seven-year-old Alina Islam Ayat 10 days after she went missing. Read more: Ayat murder: Accused again put on 7-day remand Illias Khan, PBI inspector in Chattogram, said that Abir Ali, an ex-tenant of the victim’s family, abducted the girl on November 15 for ransom on her way to a mosque where she used to learn Arabic at Bandartila area in Chattogram. Ali strangled the girl to death and later he chopped her into six pieces after taking to a residence on Akmal Ali Road in the city. He subsequently dumped the body wrapped with two bags at a beach in the city’s Kattali area, the PBI officer said. The victim’s father, Sohel Rana, lodged a general diary at the local police station after she went missing, police said.

A Cumilla court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing his wife in 2009 for dowry. Cumilla Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-1 Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun gave the judgment. The court also fined the convict  Tk 10,000, in default, to suffer  two months more rigorous imprisonment. The court also acquitted three people from the charges during the hearing, said Special Public Prosecutor Pradip Kumar Datta. Read more: Kishoreganj: 3 to die for killing housewife for dowry . According to case complaint, convict Abdul Kader,  of Komar Doga village in Chauddagram upazila,  used to torture her wife Jharna for dowry. As her family couldn’t give him remaining Tk 30,000 of his demanded Tk 50,000 as dowry Kader planned to kill Jharna. On June 24, 2009, Jharna’s body was recovered from a pond in the village. Jharna’s sister Khaleda filed a case against seven people including Kader under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. Read more: Man to die for killing wife in Pabna for dowry In 2015, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a charge sheet against four people- Abdul Kader, Monwara Begum, Najma Akter and Abdus Sattar in this case.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the High Court order granting bail to ex-NSU trustee board member MA Kashem in a graft case. A five-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Hasan Foyez Siddiqui passed the order rejecting the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) plea to cancel his bail. With this order, now there is no bar for MA Kashem to walk out of the jail, said ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan. Read more: HC order granting bail to ex-NSU trustee MA Kashem stayed by SC Advocates Murad Reza, Shah Manjurul Haque and Barrister Syed Ahmed Raza appeared for the accused at the court. On November 13, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division stayed the HC order granting bail to MA Kashem and upheld that of another ex-trustee Rehana Rahman in the case. The High Court (HC) on November 10 granted conditional bail to Kashem and Rehana in the case. They were granted bail on condition that they will not leave the country and enter the the NSU campus without permission. In August, the HC issued a rule seeking explanation as to why the two NSU trustee board members should not be granted bail in this case. On May 22, the court ordered Shahbagh police to arrest four ex-NSU trustees after rejecting their anticipatory bail pleas in the case. The two other accused trustees are- Benazir Ahmed and Muhammad Shahjahan. On May 5, the ACC sued the chairman of the board of trustees of North South University (NSU) Azim Uddin Ahmed and five others for embezzling Tk 303.82 crore in the name of buying land for the campus. Read more: HC grants conditional bail to 2 ex-NSU trustees Another accused is- Managing director of Ashalaya Housing and Developers Limited Amin Mohamed Hilali. ACC's Deputy Director Farid Ahmed Patwar filed the case. The case states that over 9088 decimal land was bought in the name of permanent campus development of NSU with the consent of some members of the Board of Trustees bypassing the approval of the University Syndicate, University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education. They later withdrew cash from the buyer through cash checks in their own names and kept FDR in their own names. They unjustly benefited themselves by committing illegal activities through misuse of power and embezzling university and government funds, according to the case. In carrying out such illegal activities, they committed a punishable offence by resorting to fraud and forgery and exchanging commissions.

A Dhaka court on Sunday placed another militant on four-day remand in a case lodged over the recent escape of two death-row convicts from police custody. The remanded accused is Muhammad Idi Amin, 27, a member of the military wing of Ansar al-Islam. He is an accused in the case which was filed at Kotwali police station in connection with the incident. Read more: Location of escaped militants to be traced soon: Home Minister Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Tofazzal Hossain passed the order as the accused surrendered before the court seeking bail. Investigation officer (IO) and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit inspector Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad,  investigating officer of the case, however, pleaded to place him on a 10-day remand in the case. After the hearing, the court placed him on a four-day remand. Earlier on November 24, the court placed Mehdi Hasan Omi alias Rafi, 24, on a seven- day remand in the incident. Death-row convicts Abu Siddique Sohel and Moinul Hasan Shamim, members of the banned militant outfit Ansar-al Islam,  who were sentenced to death in publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan's murder case, were whisked away by their associates by beating police and spraying some chemicals on their eyes at Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate court arena on November 20. Police filed a case against 20 people in this connection. Later, Home Ministry and Dhaka Metropolitan Police formed two separate committees to investigate the incident. Read more: Ansar-al-Islam member put on 7-day remand for link to escape of 2 militants Five police personnel were suspended following the incident. Meanwhile, Bangladesh police announced Tk 10 lakh for information for each. The government has issued a red alert at all the entry and exit points of the country to arrest them.

Police headquarters on Sunday instructed field level police officers to bring the criminals under the law by uncovering the facts behind murder cases through close supervision. This directive was given at the monthly crime review meeting held at the police headquarters on Sunday. Additional IGP (Crime and Operations) of Police headquarters Md. Atiqul Islam presided over the meeting. Read more: Increase supervision to ensure quality service: IGP tells officers All Metropolitan Police Commissioners, Range DIGs and Superintendents of Police (SPs) in districts' level participated in the meeting virtually. DIG (Crime Management) of Police headquarters YM Belalur Rahman, DIG (Operations) Md Haider Ali Khan and other concerned officers were present at the police headquarters. During the meeting, AIG (Crime Analysis) Sunanda Roy presented the information regarding the overall crime situation in the country in the month of October this year such as robbery, dacoity, theft, burglary, murder, unnatural death, road accident, torture on women and children, rape, recovery of drugs and weapons etc. Read more: IGP promises stern action against anyone breaking the law After reviewing of the statistics of various cases, the meeting was informed that total number of registered cases in such crimes decreased in October compared to the previous month of September.

The Appellate Division has rejected a  plea of photojournalist Shahidul Alam for leave to appeal against a High Court order that rejected his petition challenging the legality of investigating a case that was filed against him under the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT Act) some four years ago. A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foyez Siddiqui passed the order on Sunday (November 27, 2022). During the hearing, lawyer Fida M Kamal stood for Shahidul while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state. Read more: Photographer Shahidul Alam asked to submit regular petition against HC order Now there is no bar to investigating the case due to the order from the Appellate Division, said Amin. On August 6, 2018, a case was filed against Shahidul, also founder of Drik Gallery, under Section 57 of the ICT Act with Ramna Police Station. On August 12, a court directed to send Shahidul to jail over a case filed against him with Ramna Police Station for 'spreading propaganda' through Facebook during the student movement seeking safe roads. Read more: CPJ names Shahidul Alam among four for Int’l Press Freedom Awards 2020 He was freed from jail on November 20, two days after the HC granted him bail. On March 3, 2019, Shahidul filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of investigating his ICT case by Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. After a hearing, the High Court (HC) put a stay order on the investigation for three months. After increasing the length of the stay order multiple times, the HC bench of Justices JBM Hasan and Rajik Al Jalil rejected the plea on December 14, 2021. Read More: Singer Asif Akbar indicted in ICT case Later, photojournalist Shahidul Alam submitted the leave to appeal petition with the Appellate Division against the HC order.