BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been acquitted of 10 years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. The Appellate Division acquitted her on Wednesday (January 15). At the same time, the judgment of the trial court and the High Court has been cancelled. In the same case, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and other accused have also been acquitted.

The Appellate Division of five judges headed by the Chief Justice Syed Refat Ahmed unanimously announced this verdict. Supreme Court granted Khaleda Zia's appeal against the High Court's sentence.

In the verdict, the court said that the case was filed due to revenge. Khaleda Zia has been defamed through this.

The charitable organization launched in the name of Ziaur Rahman, the founder of BNP; had a Zia Orphanage Trust. From 1991 to 1996, an account named 'Prime Minister's Orphan Fund' was opened in the Ramna branch of Sonali Bank. On June 9, 1991, the account received a foreign donation sent by the Emir of Kuwait. The money from this donation was not donated to any orphanage for the next two years. Two years later, Ziaur Rahman's two sons Tarique Rahman, Arafat Rahman and their cousin Mominur formed the Zia Orphanage Trust. After the formation of the trust, the grant was divided into two and allotted to Bogura and Bagerhat branches of the trust.

The Zia family was accused of embezzling about Tk. 2 crore 10 lakh of the money sent by the Emir of Kuwait for the trust during the discussed 1/11 government. Case filed. The charge sheet of the case was filed in 2009. From that year to 2014, the proceedings of the case were suspended by the order of the High Court, but later it gained momentum again.

The case was decided on February 8, 2018. In a 632-page verdict at Aliya Madrasa in Old Dhaka, Dhaka Special Judge Court Judge Dr. Aktaruzzaman sentenced BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to 5 years rigorous imprisonment. Later, the sentence was 10 years in the High Court. Then BNP leader Khaleda Zia had to go to jail in this Zia Orphanage Trust case.

Former National Board of Revenue (NBR) member Motiur Rahman and his wife, former upazila chairman Laila Kaniz, who were involved in the ‘goat’ scandal, have been arrested.

A team of DB police arrested them from the capital's Bashundhara area on Tuesday night.

DMP's Media and Public Relations Department Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muhammad Talebur Rahman confirmed the matter. 

A terrible fire broke out in St. Martin, a coral island. No casualties have been reported so far in the incident. The island's residents say that the fire caused this great damage because there is no fire service on the island.

The incident took place in the Galachipa area of the island's west beach at 2:30 am on Tuesday (January 14).

The matter was confirmed by the chairman of the St. Martin Union Parishad, Mujibur Rahman.

He said that Shayari, Beach Valley and Kingshuk Resorts were burnt to ashes in a terrible fire in St. Martin at midnight. No tourists or locals were injured in the incident.

St. Martin resident Abdul Malek said that usually the island's waste is burned in the sand dunes, which could have caused this incident. This great damage was caused by the fire because there is no fire service on the island.

Law enforcement officers on duty at the Secretariat have removed the 40th batch of dismissed trainee sub-inspectors (SIs) who were on a hunger strike for the second day in front of the Secretariat in the capital demanding their reinstatement.

An attempt was made to remove the protesters after 11pm on Tuesday (January 14). Sajidul Islam, a dismissed trainee sub-inspector (SI), confirmed this information.

He said, since 11pm, police members of Shahbagh Police Station have been trying to forcefully remove us from here. Till now, we have not changed our place and are continuing the agitation here.

Dismissed SI Rabiul Robi said, we are observing a peaceful hunger strike. But since 11pm, the police have come here. They are creating obstacles in our hunger strike. They have asked us to disperse from this place of hunger strike.

He said, the officer-in-charge (OC, Operation) of Shahbagh Police Station stopped us by introducing himself. At one point, we had an argument with them.

On Tuesday (January 14), images of the dismissed trainee sub-inspectors (SIs) were seen in front of the Secretariat on a hunger strike to death.

They were on a hunger strike to death demanding reinstatement for the second day today.

The dismissed protesters had said that they would continue their hunger strike in front of the Secretariat until their demands were met.

Earlier, on Monday (January 13), the 40th (cadet) sub-inspectors of the 2023 batch held a sit-in in front of the Secretariat demanding reinstatement. Later, they held a press conference and announced the hunger strike as their demands were not met by 3:30 pm.

Later, at the call of the authorities, a four-member delegation of the discharged SIs entered the secretariat at 6:40 pm.

The protesters announced that they would continue their hunger strike as the meeting with the Public Administration Secretary there was not fruitful.

On Monday (January 13), discharged cadet Alamgir Hossain said at a press conference, "We, 321 sub-inspectors, held a peaceful sit-in in front of the Home Ministry on January 5 and 6 to protest the unfair discharge from the ongoing training of the 40th Cadet Sub-Inspector batch of Bangladesh Police and demand our reinstatement." The Home Secretary met a delegation of us and assured us of taking appropriate action regarding our demands. Since we have not seen any visible action regarding our demands so far, all of us (321 people) have been holding a peaceful sit-in in front of the Home Ministry since this morning (January 13).

He said, "After waiting since morning but not getting any specific assurance from the proper authorities, we have announced a hunger strike to death program from today (January 13) as our next program until we are reinstated in service. We will remain in front of the secretariat until our demands are met."

Earlier, the protesters said that we participated in training on November 4, 2023. After the training was completed, a total of 321 people were dismissed in four stages without being assigned to the job, citing various reasons. Therefore, we, the dismissed trainee sub-inspectors (SIs) of the 40th batch, have taken a stand demanding our reinstatement in service.

Sajidul Islam said, a total of 321 people were dismissed instead of completing our training and posting for various small reasons. 203 people were dismissed for not eating breakfast. 49 people were dismissed for standing in the field without listening to commands, and 58 people were dismissed for being inattentive in class. 3 people were dropped for not marching in class and 8 people were dropped for making noise in the field. Therefore, we would like to draw the attention of the government and request that we be reinstated in our jobs immediately.

Protester Anamika Saha said, "We have trained for a year with almost no pay, making many sacrifices. When we were supposed to be regular in the job, we were dropped. Now we are roaming the streets in the hope of getting our jobs back."

Protester Alamgir Hossain said, "We have submitted applications and memorandums to our chief adviser, IGP and home affairs adviser. We have submitted memorandums to all the ministries concerned by maintaining legal procedures. We have been peacefully protesting in front of the secretariat for several days, including today. We hope that a decision will be made in our favor today. And if no decision is made, we will announce our next program by issuing a press release at 4 pm.