An unidentified woman was killed after being struck by a private car in Rajapur, Jhalakathi. The crash occurred at about 8:45pm on Tuesday on the Jhalakathi-Pirojpur highway. Police and local residents said the woman was crossing the road when a speeding private car hit her, killing her at the scene.

Her name and identity were not known. Local residents said she appeared to be about 60 years old and was mentally unstable. The private car fled quickly after the collision, according to the account provided by police and locals.

Rajapur police recovered the body from the scene and brought it to the police station. Rajapur police investigation inspector Md Firoz Kamal said officers had been sent to the location, efforts were under way to establish the woman’s identity, and procedures for further legal action were continuing.

The trial of 11 employees accused of child abuse and neglect at a daycare center in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, began in a local court on August 18. The case concerns Little Aresha Daycare, where police said they found several children aged two to six with their hands and feet bound during a raid in April. Some children were allegedly tied to doors.

Prosecutors alleged that children were denied food as punishment, had their heads submerged in water, and were restrained by their legs. They said many children suffered psychological harm, including sleep problems and persistent fear. The case has prompted nationwide outrage and calls for tighter government oversight of daycare centers, as well as scrutiny of staff recruitment and training.

Police have identified 32 people as suspects or defendants in the investigation. The daycare is accused of operating without required authorization from 2022 to 2026. Its chairwoman, Diah Kusumastuti, is also accused of ordering abuse and operating an unlicensed institution. Convictions could carry up to five years in prison and a 100 million Indonesian rupiah fine, though the accused remain presumed innocent pending a final verdict.

Borhanuddin উপজেলা Chhatra Dal in Bhola permanently expelled two local leaders after allegations that a young man was held in an isolated place, beaten and threatened for a Tk 10 lakh ransom. The announcement was made in a Tuesday press release signed by upazila unit president Danish Chowdhury and general secretary Tanzil Hawladar. The accused are Mo. Mehedi Hasan Polin, organisational secretary of Tobgi union Chhatra Dal, and assistant office secretary Mo. Iman Hawladar.

The organisation said the two were expelled from their primary membership and all organisational activities over specific allegations of moral misconduct and breaches of organisational discipline. The alleged victim, Mo. Al-Mamun Mithu, said he was taken to an isolated location on August 15 on the pretext of a birthday invitation.

Mithu alleged that he was assaulted, an objectionable video was recorded under intimidation, and Tk 10 lakh was demanded with threats to circulate it. He also alleged cash, mobile banking funds and a gold chain were taken from him. He filed a written complaint with Borhanuddin police station. Both expelled leaders denied the allegations, while police said the complaint is under investigation and legal action will follow if evidence is found.

Nine Bangladeshi nationals, including six men, two women and a child, died in a fire at a hotel in a multi-storey building on Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata’s New Market area. The blaze was initially reported to have started on the third floor at about 4:15 a.m. Tuesday. The building housed separate hotels or guest houses on nearly every floor, and several people were rescued by firefighters.

Guests alleged that the rooms and passageways were cramped, the building had only one main entrance and exit, and no emergency evacuation system was available. Smoke filled corridors and balconies, making it difficult for people to find their way out. Some guests reportedly sheltered in bathrooms and tried to escape by breaking windows. One guest said hotel staff were not seen after the fire began and alleged inadequate firefighting arrangements.

Fire officials initially suspect a short circuit, while forensic experts are expected to visit the scene. Doctors initially believe the victims may have died from suffocation, though post-mortem examinations will determine the cause. Authorities are examining fire safety, hotel legality, permits and trade licences, while some injured people remain in critical condition.

Nine Bangladeshi nationals, including six men, two women and a child, were killed in a major fire at a hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street near New Market in Kolkata, West Bengal. The fire broke out on the hotel’s fourth floor at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday night. Kolkata police and fire services reached the scene and brought the blaze under control after nearly two hours, but part of the hotel was burned.

About 60 people have been rescued so far, according to the report. Many people lost consciousness because of smoke inhalation and were taken to Kolkata Medical College Hospital, where several were reported to be in critical condition. Police and fire officials initially suspect that the fire may have started from an air conditioner, though an investigation is continuing to determine the exact cause.

Residents said the building had a single, narrow entrance and exit, and alleged that the hotel lacked an emergency exit. Some trapped people entered bathrooms and tried to escape by breaking windows. A woman from a family rescued from the top floor alleged that repeated requests for fire-safety measures had not been followed by hotel authorities.

Police released former Chhatra Dal leader Zোবায়ের হোসেন বাপ্পী, also known as Hoop Bappi, on a bond after taking him into custody over allegations that he publicly displayed a licensed shotgun and issued a death threat in Ishwardi, Pabna. The incident began on Monday, while protests and a police-station siege followed on Tuesday. Police seized his firearm, saying the display had created public fear.

Witnesses, police and local BNP activists said Bappi marched about three kilometres along the town’s main road wearing white burial cloth around his head and body. He was accompanied by several people, including Dashuria union BNP president Abdus Samad Sulav Malitha. At the railgate area, Bappi was accused of threatening former Upazila Jubo Sebak Dal member secretary Mehedi Hasan with the firearm raised.

Police handed Bappi and four others to district detective police around 2am. The DB said they were released around 3:30am because no case had been filed. Mehedi said he had submitted a written complaint, while Bappi’s side said the action was a protest against drugs and terrorism, not an attempt to frighten anyone. Police said steps would be taken to seek cancellation of the firearm licence.

Five people, including an event-management cameraman, were shot by unidentified assailants while travelling to film a wedding turmeric ceremony in Gazitola, Moushakpur village of Alaiyapur union, Begumganj, Noakhali. The shooting occurred around 11:30pm on Monday. One injured person was sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment after being admitted with the others to the 250-bed Noakhali General Hospital.

The injured were identified as Nazrul Islam Shanto, Maruf Ahmed, Jasim Uddin, Sakib Hossain and Bablu. Shanto said their group, including women, was travelling on three motorcycles and two CNG-run auto-rickshaws when gunfire was directed at their motorcycles from behind. He said five people suffered gunshot wounds to the head, hands and back after falling onto the road.

Shanto claimed he recognised local men Harun and Picchi Riad among the attackers, and alleged that Riad threatened to shoot him. Local sources said the incident stemmed from a prior dispute between Harun and Raihan, with the group reportedly mistaken for Raihan’s associates. Police said three motorcycle riders suffered pellet-gun injuries and that officers would investigate and take legal action.

Newly appointed Barishal Range DIG Md Zulfikar Ali Haider said police have not met the expectations people hold for the force and that work is under way to improve officers’ behaviour and service quality. He made the remarks at a media exchange meeting organized by the Barishal Range DIG office at the Police Lines on Tuesday afternoon. He said allegations of harassment in accepting cases and general diaries at police stations would be treated seriously.

The DIG said initiatives would be taken to establish media wings at the Barishal Range DIG office and in each of the division’s six districts. A spokesperson would also be assigned in each area to provide journalists with necessary information promptly. He called on journalists to publish responsible and objective reports, saying stronger mutual cooperation between police and the media is needed to maintain normal law and order.

Haider also said school-based community policing would be introduced to raise students’ awareness of digital crime and help create a safer digital environment. Police will place special surveillance on robbery and banditry in the division’s six districts, he said. A special cell will be formed to prevent such crimes, with measures to be decided after analysing crime patterns and trends.

Police recovered the bodies of three people, including a BRAC programme assistant, a homemaker and a three-year-old child, in separate incidents in Subarnachar upazila of Noakhali on Tuesday afternoon. The deceased BRAC employee, Daudul, was found hanging in a guest room above his office at the Kanchan Bazar branch in Charjabbar union.

Police said Daudul had told a BRAC manager on Monday night that he was feeling unwell and would stay overnight in the office guest room. At about 9am Tuesday, an office peon went to the room for the key and found his hanging body. Daudul was the son of Abul Kalam of Ehiyaganj Bazar in Feni Sadar upazila.

In another case, Tamanna Akter, 23, wife of Ripon from Jahাজmara village, died while being taken to Dhaka after allegedly hanging herself at home. Separately, Hamim, 3, son of Jasim Uddin of Nayapara village, drowned in a pond beside his home. Police sent the bodies of Daudul and Tamanna to Noakhali General Hospital morgue and registered unnatural death cases.

A 25-year-old man, Raju Shikdar, was allegedly beaten to death by a crowd in Khulna after residents suspected him of being a child abductor. The incident occurred around 6:30pm on Tuesday in the Rayermohal area of the city. Raju was from the Phultala area of Khulna.

Police said Raju had been taking a child with him in Rayermohal, and preliminary information indicated that he was previously acquainted with the child. Local people became suspicious and several individuals detained him before assaulting him.

After receiving information, police went to the scene and rescued Raju in critical condition. He was taken to Khulna Medical College Hospital, where the attending doctor declared him dead. Sonadanga Zone Assistant Police Commissioner Md Humayun Kabir said police were working to establish the actual circumstances and that strict legal action would be taken against anyone involved.

Bangladesh Chhatra Dal leader Nur Alam testified before International Crimes Tribunal-1, alleging that plainclothes men took him from his Nilphamari home in April 2016 and subjected him to enforced disappearance and torture. The chemistry student at Nilphamari Government College gave his second day of testimony on Tuesday as the seventh witness in a case concerning alleged secret detention facilities linked to DGFI during the Awami League’s rule.

Alam said he was first held in a small cell which he believed was near East Kafrul and later in another facility he identified as RAB-4 after seeing that label on a fan base. He alleged interrogators questioned him over BNP politics and Facebook posts, beat him, suspended him with a rope, denied medical treatment, and kept him handcuffed for extended periods.

He further alleged he was moved to RAB-10 and later taken to a location where authorities staged a false militant recovery operation before handing him to Akbar Shah police station. Alam said he spent 11 months in prison in what he called a false case and is now on bail by High Court order. He sought punishment for those involved and compensation.

Bangladesh Forest Department officials detained four fishers for allegedly catching fish illegally during an entry ban in the Sundarbans. A special team conducted the operation at the Lebubunia canal area of the Kolagachhia River in the West Satkhira Range at about 11:30pm on Monday. The detainees are Mostafa Gazi, Mahfuzur Rahman, Al-Amin Gazi and Iyaruzzaman Gharami, all from Gabura village in Shyamnagar upazila.

Officials seized a dinghy boat, about 30 kilograms of shrimp and 137 kilograms of white fish. They also confiscated a khalpata net, a bendi net, five water drums, a wheel, two oars, three machetes and a cut drum. Burigoalini Station Officer Erfan Uddin said the Forest Department team found the four men fishing illegally while the ban on entering the Sundarbans was in force.

The four detainees were handed over to the Satkhira Forest Court on Tuesday afternoon. Following a hearing, the court ordered them sent to Satkhira District Jail at 5:47pm. Erfan Uddin said Forest Department operations against entry into forest areas and fishing in violation of restrictions would continue to protect the Sundarbans' biodiversity and fish resources.

Folk singer, composer and music director Mujib Pardeshi was shown arrested and ordered sent to jail in a cheque dishonour case involving Tk 440,000. The order was issued on Tuesday afternoon, August 18, by the court of Dhaka’s Fifth Joint Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Sadiq Ahmed. Pardeshi had been convicted and sentenced to one year in the case.

Court bench assistant Shah Alam Mia said the court sentenced Pardeshi on November 21, 2007, to one year of non-rigorous imprisonment and fined him Tk 880,000. Of that amount, the complainant is to receive Tk 500,000, while the remaining Tk 380,000 is to go to the state treasury.

The complaint alleges that in 2003 Pardeshi took Tk 440,000 from Md Solaiman Sardar, brother of complainant Mojibur Rahman, promising to take him to England. Two cheques of Tk 220,000 were later issued but repeatedly returned for insufficient funds. The case was filed on June 1, 2004. Pardeshi was also sent to jail on August 4 in another Tk 1 million cheque dishonour case.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) seized illegal Indian current nets, banned Chinese nets and cannabis in separate operations along the Daulatpur border in Kushtia, according to information released Tuesday at 1 pm. BGB sources put the total estimated value of the seized goods at Tk 57,432,500, or nearly Tk 60 million.

A BGB patrol team seized 5,050 kilograms of ownerless illegal Indian current nets and 4,845 kilograms of banned Chinese nets at about 10 pm on Monday, the sources said. The nets were estimated to be worth Tk 57,380,000. They were later burned and destroyed in the presence of the upazila fisheries officer.

In another operation at Rangmahal at 1:50 am on Monday night, a patrol team from the same battalion recovered 15 kilograms of ownerless Indian cannabis. Its estimated market value was Tk 52,500. Lieutenant Colonel Rashed Kamal Rony, commander of Kushtia Battalion 47 BGB, said the force remains vigilant to protect the border and prevent smuggling.

Police have filed an unnatural-death case after nine workers died from toxic gas while working in a confined section of a ship at Ferdous Shipyard in Bhatiari Union, Sitakunda, Chattogram. Faujdarhat police outpost inspector Rubel Afrad filed the case at Sitakunda police station on Monday, August 17, after no family member came forward to file one. No factory owner or other person has been named as an accused.

The deaths occurred on the morning of August 14 while the workers were employed at the ship-breaking facility. Afrad said the workers died after being exposed to toxic gas during work, describing the incident as accidental negligence. The deaths of nine workers at once have raised questions about overall safety arrangements at the shipyard.

Investigators had not entered the main site by August 17 because gas levels inside the vessel remained high, preventing the collection of gas samples and other key evidence. According to Afrad, gas intensity decreases somewhat when the tide rises but increases again as water recedes. The report identifies gas-free certification, gas detection checks, protective equipment, rescue arrangements, entry authorization and safety supervision as issues requiring scrutiny.