News In Brief

Van puller killed in Fakirhat road mishap
Bagerhat Correspondent
A van puller was killed on the spot and its 3 passengers were injured when it collided head on with a micro on Baraipara-Fakirhat road at Rajpat area under Fakirhat Upazila in Bagerhat district on Sunday morning. The ill-fated van puller was identified as Raju Hawladar (45), son of one late Rashid Hawladar of village Baraipara under Sadar Upazila in Bagerhat district. The injured passengers are Irani Begum (35), Munira Begum (38) and Lovelu Shaikh (44) hail from the same village. It is learnt from the locals that on the day the van was going from Baraipara Bazar to Fakirhat Upazila headquarters and when it reached the place of occurrence at about 11 am it collided head on with the killer micro that was coming from its opposite direction.
 Convicted fugitive arrested by RAB in Bagerhat
After long 10 years, Md. Mostafa Hawladar (67) who was awarded death penalty by the judge of Bagerhat District and Session Judge Court in the year 2007 on the charge of killing a fish trader of village Baharbunia under Morrelganj Upazil in Bagerhat in the year 2003 was arrested by RAB-8 from Bhanga bus stand in Faridpur district on Saturday evening. Acting on secret information, RAB-8 led by its DAD Md. Kamruzzaman raided the bus stand on the day in the evening and arrested the convicted fugitive . RAB-8 sources said, on Sunday morning that arrested Mostafa Hawladar, son of one late Asmat Ali Hawladar of village Baharbunia under the same Upazila killed Jafar Jomaddar, a fish trader of the same village and has been absconding since the incident. District and Session Judge Court of Bagerhat convicted Mostafa Hawladar and sentenced him in his absentia to be hanged till his death on the charge of killing the fish trader.
3 human traffickers held, female victims rescued in Sylhet
Sylhet Correspondent
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested three suspected members of a human-trafficking gang and rescued two women from Gotatikar village under Mogla Bazar thana of Sylhet on Sunday night. A team of Rab-9 conducted a raid on a house at Gotatikar village under Mogla Bazar thana owned by Ataur Rahman, at the village around 11:30pm and arrested the gang members Zakir, 35, hailing from Noakhali district, Ekhlasur, 27, hailing from Kanaighat upazila and Solaiman, 29, Osmaninagar upazila of Sylhet, said a Rab official here. The Rab members also rescued two female trafficking victims from the house.
5 injured, 15 houses gutted in Magura fire
MAGURA: A fire broke out at Mashalia village in Sreepur upazila injuring at least five people and burning down 15 houses yesterday. Monirul Islam, an officer at Magura fire service, said the fire broke out around 7:30am from a house of ‘Afzal Hossain’ at the village, and it soon engulfed 14 other houses of three families. On information, firefighters from Magura rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control around 9am. Five people suffered burn injuries while trying to douse the flame, Monirul said, reports UNB.
Kushtia Sadar UNO steps up to prevent child marriage  
KUSHTIA: After saving a girl from early marriage, Kushtia Sadar UNO M Ibadat Hossein has taken up responsibility for the girl’s continued schooling. Fatema Khatun, a class eight student of Jagoti Secondary School, daughter of Alamin, hailing from Jagoti Colony of the Sadar was about to get married off on Thursday. Being tipped off, Fatema and her parents were taken to the UNO’s office by Women’s Affairs Officer Marjina Khatun where Ibadat Hossein persuaded Fatema’s parents against child marriage and took responsibility for her to continue studying, reports UNB.