BANGLADESH

A woman was allegedly stabbed to death by her husband in the capital’s Adabar area Monday night.

The victim is identified as Chandana Begum, 22, of Pirganj upazila in Rangpur while her suspected killer husband is Saju Hossain, of Bogra.

Saju, a garment worker, rented a room at Road No. 3 of Shekhertek this month, said Anwar Hossain, a sub-inspector (SI) of Adabar Police Station.

Saju stabbed Chandana indiscriminately around 11:00pm Monday at their rented house, the SI said.

The SI suspected that family feud might be the reason behind the killing.

Saju, however, managed to escape the scene immediately after the killing, the SI added.

Being informed by the other tenants of the house, police recovered the body around 1:00am Tuesday and sent it to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

A Dhaka court on Tuesday took into cognisance the money-laundering charges against businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun.

After scrutinising the case dockets and other relevant documents, Judge Md Jahurul Haque of the Senior Special Judge’s Court passed the order in the morning.

During the hearing, Mamun, now in custody, was present in the dock.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on April 29 pressed the charges against Mamun bringing allegation that he siphoned off 4,18,853 British pounds to the United Kingdom.

On September 22 last year, the ACC filed the case with Cantonment Police Station against Mamun, a business partner of BNP chief Khaleda Zia's elder son Tarique Rahman.

According to First Information Report (FIR), Mamun opened two accounts with a London branch of NatWest Bank and laundered the money.

Of the total amount, 2,14,356 pounds was found in one of the accounts. The money was deposited between July 2003 and January 2005.

M Shahzad Ali, owner of Bangladesh Telecom, had deposited 17,286 pounds in November 2004 and his wife M Tahmina Ali deposited 27,323, pounds to the account.

A sum of 2,04,497 pounds was found in the other account of Mamun. The money was deposited there between March 2003, and October 2006.

Mamun did not disclose the sources of this account though he was asked to explain in two letters sent to him at Kashimpur Central Jail, the FIR added.

Trial of another money laundering case filed against Mamun and Tarique is going on with the Special Judge Court-3 of Dhaka.

Mamun, who stands accused in 13 other cases, has already been convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail in three cases, two of which were for corruption.

The International Crimes Tribuanal-1 on Tuesday issued a contempt rule against a counsel for war crimes accused Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for violating a tribunal order.

Contemner Barrister Fakhrul Islam will have to explain by May 27 why punitive action would not be taken against him for violating its order.

The three-judge panel headed by Justice Md Nizamul Huq issued the rule following a petition moved by the prosecution.

On Monday, Justice Nizamul Huq cautioned Fakhrul as he called first prosecution witness Prof Anisuzzaman a liar during his cross-examination.

The tribunal also cautioned Salauddin on the same day about his behaviour in the courtroom.

A nephew of the junior home minister has allegedly beaten up a journalist for reporting 'nepotism' in awarding Food for Work Programme tender.

Abdullah Al Mamun, the local correspondent of Bengali daily Kaler Kantho, was admitted to the Pabna Medical College Hospital after the alleged beating on Monday morning.

State Minister for Home Shamsul Hoque Tuku, however, said that the incident involving his nephew Aminul Islam was result of a personal dispute.

Mamun's elder brother Al Mahmud Sarker is the Science and Technology Secretary of ruling Awami League's Pabna district unit.

"Police have been ordered to arrest the attackers," Tuku said.

Bera Police Station Officer in Charge Abdul Hye said a case was filed against six people, including Aminul. "We are trying to arrest the accused."

Mamun's brother told that Aminul, son of Badiul Alam, and his followers had been threatening his brother since the Bengali daily published a report titled 'Relatives of MP Tuku get T-R, Food for Work tenders' on Friday.

He said Aminul led 12-13 'miscreants', including Nazrul, Firoz, Halim, Zakir and Sagar, to beat his brother Mamun.

Witnesses said Aminul and his associates brought Mamun to a place in front of a temple when he was about to leave a restaurant at Bera upazila around 9:30am.

"Miscreants led by Aminul beat me up with rod. They hit my back, hand and shoulder," Mamun told

Hospital's orthopedic surgery unit chief Dr Reazul Haque said no bone of Mamun had broken but he would need rest.

Local journalists held a rally at Pabna Press Club to protest the alleged attack.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared a raise in the status of assistant teachers of government secondary schools from the third grade to the second grade.

The declaration came from a meeting of the Bangladesh Government Secondary Teachers Association at Dhaka Residential Model College on Tuesday.

She pointed out that her government had raised the status of headmasters and assistant headmasters of government secondary schools from the second grade to the first grade.

"I declare now from here that from this moment onward, assistant teachers are alleviated from the third grade to the second grade."

The association's general secretary Mohammad Imon Ali placed the long-standing demand of secondary assistant teachers before the Prime Minister in his welcome address.

"If we do not show proper respect to the teachers, we will not produce students with self-respect and the country will not progress far," Hasina said, adding that no one can now neglect the teachers.

The High Court on Tuesday forbade publication of political novel 'Deyal' without correction by Humayun Ahmed on the assassination of the nation's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the post-75 developments.


The suo moto ruling by the bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Jahangir Hossain came on Tuesday after Attorney General Mahbubey Alam brought to its attention the two sections of the novel published by a Bengali-language daily on May 11.

Alam objected to the depiction of Bangabandhu's youngest son Sheikh Rasel's killing in the two chapters.

The court on its own volition slapped an embargo on the publication of the book without correcting the portrayal.

The Information Secretary and the Education Secretary have been asked to contact the writer over the matter.

Even though Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was mentioned in the famed fiction writer's various writings, this is his first extensive foray into the assassination of the founding president and the post-75 events.