United News of Bangladesh

Police have arrested four people including a couple over the theft of gold ornaments from idols at two temples in the capital and one in Narayanganj. The arrestees are Lipi Karmakar, 29, and her husband Arnab Roy Dipta, 30, and two jewellery shop owners- Md Muhin, 37, and Zakaria Islam. Joint Commissioner (Crime) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Md Faruk Hossain disclosed the information at a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre on Minto Road on Tuesday afternoon. The couple visited different temples and stole gold ornaments from idols before selling them to jewellery shops, police said. They stole gold from the tongue of the idol of Goddess Kali at Ramna Kali Temple in Dhaka. Subsequent interrogation revealed their involvement in a similar theft at Siddheshwari Kali Temple in the capital and the theft of a gold chain from Loknath Ashram in Narayanganj, police said. They were arrested from Dobadia area under Uttarkhan Police Station on Sunday morning. Faruk Hossain said the gold was stolen from the tongue of Kali idol at Ramna Kali Temple under Shahbagh Police Station between around 8:45am and 4pm on October 7. The stolen gold weighed approximately six annas. Following a complaint filed by temple priest Sujit Chakraborty with Shahbagh Police Station, police reviewed CCTV footage and identified the suspects. Faruk said the two were sent to court after their arrest and they confessed to the offences before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Based on their statements, police arrested Md Muhin, owner of Sadia Jewellers under Dakshinkhan Police Station, and recovered a gold sheet. Police also found the couple's involvement in the theft of gold from Siddheshwari Kali Temple on September 13, for which a separate case was filed with Ramna Police Station. Gold stolen from that temple was subsequently recovered based on information provided by the couple, and Zakaria Islam was arrested in connection with the case for purchasing the stolen gold.  

The High Court has directed the authorities concerned, including the National Board of Revenue (NBR), to take necessary steps to recover Tk 666 crore in unpaid taxes from Grameen Kalyan, an organisation founded by former interim government Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, swiftly. The court also vacated a stay order previously issued on the tax demand. The full text of the High Court verdict delivered on September 10 last, dismissing separate writ petitions filed by Grameen Kalyan, was published on the Supreme Court website on Monday. In its observations, the court described the case as a “classic case of tax evasion by keeping a settled issue pending”. Grameen Kalyan filed two separate writ petitions in 2017 challenging the legality of the NBR's tax demands for the assessment years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. Following preliminary hearings, the High Court issued a rule and stayed the tax demand decisions. After reassessment, the High Court dismissed the separate writ petitions on August 4, 2024, challenging the validity of the tax commissioner's decision to demand Tk 666 crore for the five assessment years. The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice SM Moniruzzaman. The Awami League government fell the following day, on August 5. On August 29, 2024, another High Court bench, comprising Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir, recalled the August 4 verdict and sent the case records to the Chief Justice, who subsequently assigned a new bench to deal with the matter. On September 10 last, the High Court ruled that Grameen Kalyan must pay the Tk 666 crore claimed by the NBR. The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justice Md Mujibur Rahman Mia and Justice Rezaul Karim. In its full verdict, the court said the petitioners had no legal basis to maintain the petitions. Barristers Abdullah Al Mamun and Fida M Kamal represented Dr Yunus in court, while Deputy Attorney General Abdus Samad Azad appeared for the state. Mamun told reporters that they will appeal against the verdict before the Appellate Division after receiving the full text of the judgement. Explaining the background of the dispute, Deputy Attorney General Abdus Samad Azad said Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Telecom had reached an agreement under which Grameen Telecom would provide financial assistance to Grameen Kalyan. In return, Grameen Telecom would pay Grameen Kalyan 42.50 percent of the profit earned from dividends on Grameen Kalyan's shares, he said. The income tax authorities later reopened the file and found that Grameen Kalyan had not deducted tax at source on the profit it received from Grameen Telecom, prompting the reassessment. Following a review by the tax commissioner, Grameen Kalyan filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the decision.

A Dhaka court on Monday placed two retired Army officers on four-day remand each in a case filed over alleged anti-state conspiracy, violent incitement, illegal funding, and social media propaganda. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Didarul Alam passed the order after Inspector Sheikh Bashir Ahmed of the Detective Branch Cyber and Special Crime Division produced them before the court with a seven-day remand prayer. Those remanded are Lieutenant (retd) Kazi Gulshan Ara, 43, and Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Debashish Kumar, 47. The court also rejected bail petitions filed by the accused, said Debashish’s counsel Sanaul Islam Tipu. The case was filed on Monday at Pallabi Police Station under multiple sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Cyber Security Ordinance. According to the remand petition, the suspects operated from a residence in Pallabi, creating WhatsApp groups named "Bangladesh Awami League Supporters Alpha" and "BBM Transparency" to produce and spread anti-government and provocative digital content. They used platforms named "Unity Care" and "Public Parliament" in collusion with former Army Chief General (retd) Aziz Ahmed, a former home minister, and other fugitive leaders to conspire against the state and revive the Awami League, it said. They also operated a Facebook page named “KaalAajkaal.com” to create instability in the country, Bashir said. Furthermore, he said, during a 2018 programme, the suspects pledged loyalty to then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, forming “Bangabandhu Sena Parishad” and later establishing a 101-member committee. Police also reported finding evidence of their communication with local and foreign intelligence agencies. Police cited identifying cohorts and local and foreign conspirators, tracking digital evidence and illegal funding sources, locating other anti-state websites, and unearthing the core mystery to prevent anti-state plans as the grounds for remand. Earlier on Sunday night, DB police arrested the duo during drives in Pallabi and Banani.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Sunday framed charges against 26 people, including former Dhaka-18 lawmaker Mohammad Habib Hasan and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman, in a case filed over the killing of BUP student Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdha and 10 other people during the anti-discrimination student movement in Uttara in 2024. The three-member ICT-2, chaired by Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury, passed the order, paving the way for the formal trial. The tribunal had initially scheduled September 16 to deliver its order on charge framing but deferred it to September 23. The order was postponed again to October 11. The accused include police personnel and local leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliated organisations. Of them, eight are in jail, while the remaining 18 are absconding. Those in custody include former DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Uttara Division) Mirza Salahuddin, former Officer-in-Charge of Uttara East Police Station Mujibur Rahman, former constable of Azampur Police Outpost Hossain Ali, Uttara East unit Awami League President Monowar Islam Chowdhury Robin and unit Jubo League President Delwar Hossain Rubel. The fugitive accused include former Dhaka-18 MP Habib Hasan, ex-DMP chief Habibur and former DC (Uttara Division) Kazi Ashraful Azim. According to the case statement, Mugdha, an MBA student at Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), was helping transport injured people to hospitals and distributing water and biscuits among participants in the anti-discrimination student movement in Sector 3 of Uttara on July 18, 2024, when he was shot. Other protesters took him to Uttara Crescent Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. The prosecution alleges that indiscriminate firing on protesters in Uttara on July 18 and 19, 2024, resulted in the deaths of Mugdha and 10 others. The accused faced two charges of crimes against humanity. The first charge was brought for indiscriminate shooting at protesters along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway and surrounding areas in Uttara on July 18, which killed seven people, including Mugdha. The prosecution also said that Uber driver Mokhlesur Rahman, also known as Durjoy, was run over by an armoured personnel carrier (APC) operated by police. His body was subsequently thrown into the Turag River to conceal the crime, according to the charge. The same charge includes allegations that five people, including Mehedi Hasan, were shot and seriously injured with the intention of killing them. The second charge relates to indiscriminate firing on protesters in the same area on July 19, which killed four people, including Ridwan Sharif Riyad Joyce. Raisul Rahman Ratul was also shot and seriously injured in an attempt to kill him. The prosecution contends that the killings and attempted killings on the two days were not isolated incidents but part of a planned, widespread and systematic attack constituting crimes against humanity.

Four people including ANM Ayash, member secretary of Rashtra Sanglap Forum, have been sown arrested in a case over the attempt to deface a graffiti of Rabindranath Tagore on a wall in front of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital’s Segunbagicha area. Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh Police Station Moniruzzaman said police filed the case under the Penal Code on Sunday morning and showed four arrestees as accused in the case. They will be produced before a court in the afternoon, he said. The three other arrestees are Rashtra Sanglap Forum’s member Md Sakibul Hasan, 19; Md Sujon Mia, 18; and Marzia Khandaker Rimi, 27. They were detained by police around 12:30pm on Saturday amid a commotion in the Shilpakala Academy area. Several activists of the forum went to the Shilpakala Academy premises around 11am on Saturday and tried to cover the graffiti of Tagore with ink, triggering tension in the area. A verbal altercation subsequently took place between Ayash and people present there. As the situation escalated, police reached the spot and detained the four. Later, the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police took them into custody for questioning. Police said further legal proceedings in the case are underway. At the scene, a woman was also seen applying ink to Tagore’s portrait before a police officer stepped in to stop her. The woman said the group had gathered to protest against “Indian aggression”. On October 5, Dhaka South City Corporation removed illegal establishments from a footpath in Segunbagicha. Following the clearance, portraits of 10 prominent personalities from the fields of art, literature and culture were painted on a wall along the footpath. The figures included Zainul Abedin, Satyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Four people detained over allegedly smearing lime and soot on a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital's Segunbagicha area are being interrogated at the Detective Branch (DB) office. The detainees are Ayas, member secretary of the organisation Rashtrachinta, and its members Sakibul, Sujan Mia and Narjia Khandaker Rimi. Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Shahbagh Police Station, said they were detained around 12:30pm on Saturday and later taken to the DB office for questioning. He said around 11:00pm that the four remained in DB custody, but no decision had yet been made regarding further action against them. No formal complaint had been filed with the police station over the incident by 11:00pm, the OC added. According to reports, activists of Rashtrachinta smeared lime and soot on Tagore's portrait in front of the Shilpakala Academy around 11:00am, triggering tension in the area. A verbal altercation subsequently broke out between Ayas and people present at the scene. Police arrived as the situation escalated and took the individuals to the police station to defuse the tension.

A CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Cumilla has confessed to the crime before a court on Saturday. The accused, Suman, made the confessional statement before Judge Mominul Haque of Cognizance Court No. 6 at the Cumilla Chief Judicial Magistrate Court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, said Sadekur Rahman, court inspector of Cumilla. He was subsequently sent to Cumilla District Jail at 7:20pm on Saturday. Earlier, he was produced before the court around 3:30pm. According to police, Suman picked up Tazmin in his CNG-run auto-rickshaw from the Padua Bazar Bishwaroad area on the night of Wednesday, October 7, promising to drop her home for a fare of Tk 300. Police said that he later took her to a crop field in Lalmai, where he raped and murdered her. Police further said Sumon fled to Chattogram after the murder with Tazmin's mobile phone. He was arrested on Friday. Later, police recovered the mobile phone from a wooded area in the Bakhrabad locality based on information provided by him. Earlier, Tazmin's body was recovered from a crop field in Jagatpur village under Perul Uttar Union in Lalmai upazila on Thursday morning. She was an irregular seventh-grade student at Farida Bidyayatan High School in Cumilla city. Her home district was Jashore, and she lived with her family in the city's Racecourse area.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate on Saturday said misleading, baseless and malicious information involving the Bangladesh Army and the Chief of Army Staff had recently been circulated on various online platforms and social media. Such attempts appear to be aimed at creating public confusion and tarnishing the image of the Bangladesh Army, ISPR said in a statement. The statement urged everyone not to be swayed by such misleading and malicious propaganda. “Built on a robust chain of command, mutual trust, unity, discipline and professionalism, the Bangladesh Army remains united and steadfast in fulfilling its responsibilities towards the nation and its people,” it said. The public was urged to rely on official and credible sources for information regarding the Bangladesh Army and the Chief of Army Staff.  

Police have arrested a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver in Chattogram in connection with the murder of a 15-year-old Class VII student whose body was recovered from a paddy field in Lalmai upazila of Cumilla on Thursday. The arrestee, Sumon, was the driver of the auto-rickshaw that carried the schoolgirl before her death, said Additional Superintendent of Police (Administration and Finance) Md Lutfar Rahman. Tipped off, several police teams conducted a drive in Chattogram city and arrested Sumon early Friday, he said, adding that a team was bringing him to Cumilla. Further details will be disclosed at a press conference after his arrival in Cumilla, the official said. However, he did not specify when the press conference will be held. Earlier on Thursday morning, police recovered the body of Jannatul Tazmin, daughter of Abdul Alim of Churamankati in Jashore Sadar, from a paddy field in Jagatpur of Lalmai upazila. She was a seventh-grade student of Farida Vidyayatan in Cumilla city. Lalmai Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Mizanur Rahman said police recovered the body around 7:00am from the paddy field near Manumura jungle in Jagatpur Northpara. A green CNG-run autorickshaw was also found abandoned nearby. Locals spotted the vehicle and later found the girl’s body about 50 yards from the road, lying beside a field ridge with a gamcha wrapped around her neck. The girl’s father, Abdul Alim, said she left their rented home in Cumilla on October 4, saying she was going to a friend’s house, and later travelled to Cox’s Bazar with the friend. He last spoke to her around 2:00am Thursday after she returned to Cumilla. After losing contact with her, he traced her mobile phone location to the Lalmai area and later learned that her body had been recovered from Jagatpur. Later, he filed a murder case with Lalmai police station against unidentified people over his daughter’s death.

A case has been filed against 20-25 unidentified people over the attack on Nasiruddin Patwary, chief coordinator of the National Citizen Party (NCP), at the Lalon Akhra in Kushtia. Jannatul Ferdous Tony, convener of the NCP’s Kushtia district unit, filed the case with Kumarkhali Police Station on Wednesday, its Officer-in-Charge (OC) Jamal Uddin confirmed on Friday afternoon. According to the case statement, Nasiruddin Patwary visited the Chheuriya Akhrabari in Kumarakhali upazila on October 4 and listened to Lalon songs. Around 8:15pm, as he and his associates were leaving through the main gate, a group of unidentified people attacked them. The statement alleged that one of the attackers threw an egg and a stone at the NCP leader before shouting. It further alleged that the attackers, armed with sticks, bamboo poles, pipes, wooden battens, iron rods, stones and other locally available weapons, ambushed Nasiruddin Patwary and the NCP members accompanying him, leaving several people injured. They took shelter inside the shrine to escape the attack, but the attackers followed them and continued to assault the group. The attackers also allegedly vandalised Nasiruddin Patwary’s vehicle while attempting to prevent him from leaving the premises safely. When local residents, NCP members and others intervened to protect the group, the attackers withdrew from the shrine and gathered near the main gate, where they continued to threaten and intimidate them, the complaint stated. Later, with police assistance and in the presence of journalists, the NCP leader and other activists left the Akhrabari safely. OC Jamal said no one has been arrested in connection with the incident so far. Police were working to identify and apprehend those involved, he added.