'Top criminals' to walk free as witnesses fail to appear before court for years

Last year ‘killer Abbas' walked free in similar circumstances and this time three other murder accused – Sanjidul Hasan Emon, Tarik Sayeed Mamun and Al Mamun Munshi are on verge of walking free as witnesses have failed to show up in nearly 100 hearing dates.

Abdur Rahim, 33, a fast food vendor, was allegedly killed by the trio, listed by police as 'top criminals', in 1999.

Victim's brother, Md Tarek, lodged a case following which only seven out of 13 witnesses appeared before the court between 2004 and 2010.

Since then even the plaintiff failed to turn in nearly 100 hearing days assigned by the court during when the case changes hands of four to five judges.

Currently, the case awaits decision before Dhaka's Fifth Special Judge's Court.

According to case dossier available from the court, the prosecution failed to present even the plaintiff at court on Aug 8 last year, prompting Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman to once again assign Dec 27 as the next date for hearing.

Court clerk Mokarram Hussain however failed to say if the judge had assigned a new date or not.

Hussain however revealed that of the accused only Mamun is now in jail. The other two, Emon and Munshi, are absconding.

Under the circumstances, Mamun is likely to be released.

The lawyers for the accused, Sayed Ahmed Gazi or Muslem Uddin, chose to remain tightlipped on the issue.

The State side at court and the police prosecution wing also reportedly do not have much information to explain the bizarre turn of events.

'Killer Abbas' released

Accused in the 1999 murder of Juba League leader Ataur Rahman Azad and in the 2001 shooting to death of rice trader Ishak Ahmed Dulal, infamous miscreant Abbas alias 'Killer Abbas' was released from jail last year due to lack of enough evidence.

Interestingly, the State lawyer did not even know about the release.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Prosecution) Deputy Commissioner Anisur Rahman, when asked about it, said he could not speak on the issue without going through documents related to the case.

Startup investors fret over risks of mass data collection

Nearly every technology startup wants the same thing: more data.

But in the rush to collect all manner of information about customers, tensions are rising in Silicon Valley over whether such practices amount to a form of surveillance that customers will ultimately find invasive.

Whether ordering an Uber, streaming music, shopping online or tracking a health condition, consumers are giving an unprecedented amount of information to technology companies.

"The data that companies ... have on you is significantly greater than you appreciate," Mark Suster, managing partner at venture capital firm Upfront Ventures, said in an interview at a conference in Santa Barbara, California, sponsored by CB Insights, a business data firm.

Discussions during the two-day conference centred on the importance of 'big data,' the catchphrase referring to massive information sets that are stored and analysed by companies.

Collecting big data helps Airbnb, for instance, know whether its customers prefer to travel to the beach or mountains, and Uber knows popular drop-off locations and how to price trips.

Collecting large amounts of data is also paramount to developing artificial intelligence (AI), among the most highly sought technologies in Silicon Valley, which teaches machines to make decisions that humans previously had. AI can, for example, help a shopper decide on a new pair of shoes, help a doctor diagnose a disease and enable a car to drive itself.

But questions loom about how much personal information startups are collecting and how securely they store the data, with whom they share it and how they intend to use it.

"We are going to become comfortable with a level of surveillance that we never would have previously been comfortable with, because it makes things just a little easier," said Jeremy Liew, a venture capitalist with Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Some startups have overstepped. Uber Technologies Inc faced an investigation by New York's attorney general into a feature known internally as "God View," which allowed employees to access and track the location of individual Uber riders without obtaining permission. Uber settled the matter and agreed to encrypt customers' geo-location data.

Peter Coles, head economist for Airbnb, said the data his company guards is fairly benign. "I think it is very unlikely that we would be collecting anything about users that they would be surprised to know."

But the tension was pronounced in one on-stage discussion at the conference. Matthew Zeiler, founder and chief executive of Clarifai, a visual recognition tool used in healthcare, suggested creating a Wikipedia-style database of anonymous patient data that was open to the public.

"That can be very harmful, especially to the patients," argued Gabriel Otte, founder and CEO of Freenome, a cancer-detection startup. Patients would be loath to tell the truth, he said, if they knew their most private health information was going to end up on the internet, even without their name attached.

Still, it is unclear if younger generations, who have grown up with apps such as Facebook and Snapchat that encourage sharing, view privacy in the same way.

"People don't care as much as they profess," Dave McClure, founding partner of 500 Startups, said in an interview. "Convenience is generally going to win over privacy."

Several injured in Barisal clash between BNP, Awami League supporters

The BNP claims their supporters were attacked while preparing for a procession -- a claim rubbished by Awami League activists, who say the clash was staged by the BNP.

Police said the clash erupted around 11:30am at the city's Sadar Road,

Deputy Police Commissioner Golam Rouf said that BNP activists gathered in front of its party office in an attempt to take out a procession.

Around the same time, activists the AL's student and youth affiliates gathered nearby, he said.

"The clash erupted when a bottle was thrown at the Awami League supporters from the BNP gathering," said senior officer Rouf.

Awami League activists were spotted with sticks during the clash. After a while the police intervened and dispersed the trouble makers, according to Rouf.

The Awami League came to power for a second successive term after the Jan 5, 2014 national elections, which the BNP had boycotted.

Since then the BNP observes it as the 'Death of Democracy Day' and take out black flag processions across the country, as they did on Thursday.

The Awami League, however, describes Jan 5 as the day when 'democracy was restored.'

It has announced its own programmes and its leaders have said that the people will not allow BNP to take to the streets on Thursday.

"Awami League activists attacked us while we were getting ready for a peaceful procession," BNP's Barisal South unit General Secretary Abul Kalam Shahin told bdnews24.com.

He claimed more than 50 of their supporters have been injured.

The Awami League denied the allegations.

"It's all staged by the BNP to make things murky. They have started the clash and blamed it on us," said Abdur Razzak, general secretary of Barisal unit of the AL student front.

Police have arrested the alleged mastermind of the attack on Hindus in Brahmanbarhia's Nasirnagar Upazila.

Local Awami League leader Dewan Atiqur Rahman Ankhi, who is also the chairman of Haripur Union, has been detained from Dhaka, said Nasirnagar police's Sub Inspector Ishtiak Ahmed.
 
He was arrested around 3pm on Thursday from Dhaka's Bhatara area, said the police officer.

12 gold bars in anal

Customs have held a man who was carrying at least 12 gold bars in his anal from Malaysia to Dhaka.

The passenger landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday morning.

Dr. Moinul Khan, director general of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directoratej, confirmed the news to risingbd.

Custom officials also seized gold bars carried following same process several times in 2016.

Yaba factory busted in N`ganj, 3 held

Detectives in a drive detained three drug peddlers with Yaba making equipments and Yaba tablets from Baburail area in the district town on Tuesday.

The detainees are identified as Amjad Hossain and his two cohorts Samiul Islam and Rajesh Chowdhury Sham.

The authority confirmed the matter at a press conference at District Police Office on Tuesday.

Additional Police Super Mostafizur Rahman said that acting on a tip off, a team of detectives conducted the drive in residence of Amjad Hossain Badal and found the Yaba making factory.

Meanwhile, the law enforcers seized 250 yaba tablets, yaba raw materials, device and machine from the spot.