The University Grants Commission has formed a probe committee to investigate allegations of harassment brought against North South University's trustee board chief Mohammad Shajahan by their teacher Nashid Kamal.
The four-strong committee headed by its convenor, UGC member professor Atful Hye Shibly, would also probe accusations of corruption against the university's authorities.
UGC member professor Abul Hashem, director Shamsul Alam and an official Durga Rani Sarkar will man the probe.
"Allegations has been received that one of the teachers has been sexually harassed by an owner of the North South University. The committee will probe the accusation," Shibly told on Sunday night.
"Besides, the work to probe the corruption charges against the university authorities will soon start."
Nashid Kamal, a teacher of the university's public health department, on Saturday sent a letter to UGC accusing Shajahan of harassing her. Shibly confirmed that she has filed a written complaint against the trustee board chief.
Meanwhile, a teacher of the university, on condition of anonymity, told : "The university authorities have held an emergency meeting with deans and members of all faculties on Sunday in the wake of the current situation. University's vice-chancellor professor Hafiz G A Siddiqi and trustee board chief Mohammad Shajahan were present there."
However, when contacted, the vice chancellor declined to talk to journalists claiming that he is not well.
"Nashid Kamal wants to be the chairperson of the public health department. Since the matter was not approved in the board meeting, she is making false accusations against me. I have always respected her like an elder sister," Shajahan claimed to refuting the allegations.
Nashid Kamal could not be reached over phone for her comments.
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Journalists staged an hour-long strike on Monday, demanding proper investigation and trial of the murders of all their colleagues, including the recently slain couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.
They wore black badges and demanded an immediate end to torture on journalists through the pen down from 12 noon to 1pm.
As per the programme announced earlier by the National Press Club, Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU), Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), journalists across the country will stage a token hunger strike from 10am to 4pm on Mar 1.
The hunger strike programme will be centrally held at the National Press Club premises.
On Feb 11, Maasranga Television news editor Golam Mostofa Sarowar, alias Sagar Sarowar, and his wife, ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Nahar Runi, were found murdered at their rented flat in the city's west Rajabazar.
Police are yet to arrest anyone or name any suspect over the murder.
On Sunday, the investigators said they are 'almost certain' about the motive behind the killings of the journalist couple but cannot disclose it for the sake of the investigation.
The Public Works Department (PWD) started demolishing a shrine and several associated structures, all deemed to be unauthorised, near Central Shaheed Minar on Saturday following the High Court's order on Feb 22.
"A small part of the shrine has been demolished. But the grave and the adjacent mosque are untouched," magistrate Al Amin, who is leading the demolition work, told .
"The High Court will be notified of the drive," he added.
The demolition work began in the presence of PWD officials, Dhaka University officials and a large posse of police personnel.
"The demolition work is going on without any obstruction. No one tried to stop (the demolition work)," officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station Sirajul Islam told journalists.
A correspondent reported from the spot that two lavatories at the rear end of the shrine (adjacent to the Nursing Hostel boundary), a kitchen-cum-storeroom, rooms of the mosque's imam and the shrine server on western part of the shrine, the shrine's main gate, ablution place, water tanks and several small establishments have been pulled down.
The bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Jahangir Hossain had issued the order on Feb 22 to demolish the illegal establishments, after hearing a petition filed by historian Prof Muntasir Mamun.
Mamun's lawyer Manzill Murshid told that the 'shrine' of 'saint Tel Shah' was built illegally on a 20-katha land of Shaheed Minar. "The court ordered pulling down the shrine. But it retained the grave," he said.
Abdul Mannan, a devotee at the shrine, said, "Following the High Court order, demolition work is going on. The main 'majar' (shrine) or the mosque has not been touched."
A Feb 20 report in the newspaper 'Kaler Kantha' quoted former students of Dhaka Medical College, which is beside Shaheed Minar, saying there had been no shrine earlier. There was only a grave of a class IV employee of the college, and some people raised structures on the grave and turned it into a shrine in the 1990s, they told the daily.
The report added that the shrine is built on land that is part of the four acres allotted for Shaheed Minar.
It said the monument for language martyrs has been endangered by a plan of the 'shrine traders' to build a dome on the grave of a 'so-called' pir (saint) and a complex beside it.