SEPARATE road accidents have killed 11 persons in six districts.
   The Sirajganj correspondent of New Age reports that four persons were killed and 10 injured in separate road accidents on the Bogra-Nagorbari Highway on Thursday.
   Three persons were killed and 10 injured as an AB-Paribahan bus from Dinajpur skidded off the road in the Bhuiyanganti area when a truck hit the bus.
   One of the deceased was identified as Shahjahan Ali, 32, of village Bhagbatpur under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur.
   In another accident, Bhobesh Patwari, 70, died on the spot when a Dhaka-bound bus ran over him in the Choria Shikar area at Shalanaga police station at about 1:00am.
   The dead bodies and injured persons were sent to Sirajganj General Hospital.
   Two separate cases were recorded.
   The Gazipur correspondent said two persons were killed and six injured on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in the Porabari area under the district headquarters on Thursday.
   The deceased were tempo driver Alamgir, 18, of Dukhola at Sripur upazila and a passenger Shahidullah, 45, of Autpara under the district headquarters.
   Witnesses said Alamgir and Shahidullah died on the spot when a Mymensingh-bound bus collided head-on with a tempo.
   Local people rescued the injured and took them to nearby clinic and hospital.
   The police sent the bodies to the Gazipur General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations.
   The police seized the bus and the tempo. But the bus driver managed to escape.
   A case was filed with the police.
   In Habiganj, according to a UNB report, two persons were killed when a bus rammed into a rickshaw at Imambari under Nabiganj upazila on Thursday evening.
   Witnesses said a Habiganj-bound coach dashed a rickshaw killing poor rickshaw-puller Mobasshir Mia, 18, and the passenger Kanu Dash, 50, on the spot. Mobasshir hailed from Khagara village in Baniachang upazila and Kanu from Chandpur. Locals seized the bus but the driver and helper managed to flee.
   Another UNB report from Bagerhat adds: A man was killed and 25 were injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck at Joukhali on Khulna-Bagerhat highway in Sadar upazila Thursday night.
   The police said a Bagerhat-bound bus collided with a goods-laden truck near Joukhali Bridge at about 7:00pm, killing bus driver Rana, 50, on the
   spot.
   Vehicular movement on the route remained suspended for over an hour following the incident. Later, the police brought normalcy on the road.
   Eighteen of the injured were admitted to Bagerhat General Hospital.
   The New Age staff correspondent in Khulna said a man was killed and two were injured as a bus collided head-on with pickup van on the Khulna–Satkhira Highway at Chuknagar under Dumuria upazila of the district Wednesday night.
   The dead was Mahabubur Rahman of Koyra upazila in the district.
   The injured were admitted to Khulna Medical College Hospital.
   The Chapainawabganj correspondent said a man was killed on Wednesday as a motorcycle hit him from behind at Baroghoria in the municipal area of Chapainawabganj. The deceased was Ayesh Uddin, 70, of Lakhipur.
   The police said he was hit by a motorcycle at about 1:30pm. He was taken to Chapainawabganj General Hospital where he was declared dead.

A GOPALGANJ court Thursday sentenced five persons to life-term imprisonment for kidnap and rape of a college girl.
   The convicts are Shariful Haque alias Maruf Biswas, Mamun Biswas, Kurban Biswas, Hasmat Biswas and Ziauddin Khan of village Barni under Tungipara upazila in the district.
   The prosecution said the convicts kidnapped the victim, student of a local college, on her way home on June 10, 2003. She was freed after being raped by Shariful who threatened her not to disclose it.
   The victim’s mother filed a case with Women and Children Repression (prevention) Tribunal on August 10 the same year.
   Judge Murshid Alam handed down the verdict.

A DEFAMATION case has been filed against three persons, including MM Shaheen, former lawmaker and chief of the editorial board of the weekly Manab Thikana, published from Kulaura in Moulvibazar district.
   The two other accused in the case are Javed Khasru, editor and publisher, and Kayser Rashid, news editor of the weekly.
   Enamul Islam, headmaster of the Kulaura Municipal Girls’ High School, filed the defamation case with cognisance court number 2 of Moulvibazar on Wednesday.
   Enamul said he was made the president of the football tournament committee organised this year by the football players’ welfare association of Kulaura.
   MM Shahin, also a BNP leader, had put pressure on Enamul to invite him as chief guest at the tournament kick-off. As the plaintiff of the case refused to do it, Shahin ran false stories in his weekly against him in a bid to tarnish his image, he alleged.

A CASE was filed with Barisal sadar upazila magistrate’s court against the administrative officer, ward master, sardar of Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital on Thursday for taking bribe from sweepers of the hospital.
   The plaintiff, Abdul Mazid, an employee of the hospital, alleged that administrative officer Muzahar Ali Howlader, ward master Abul Kalam, sardar Dewan Kabir took bribe of Tk 5,000 each from 11 sweepers to give them the promotion and regularise their jobs.
   The promotion was held up after an investigation by Directorate of Health. The 11 sweepers later lodged a case against the authorities concerned with administrative tribunal on September 18.
   The accused refused to return the bribe money and demanded Tk 50,000 more taking signature on blank papers, the complainant claimed and alleged that they also gave death threat to them.
   Magistrate ATM Mahbubul Karim accepted the case and issued summons against the accused to appear before the court.