Investigative Stories
How Hasina’s flight was kept off radar
When the air force transporter plane carrying Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka on August 5, it took off as a training flight and turned off its transponders to blur its flightpath and location..The transponders, which transmit location, heading
The Daily Star Investigation / A councillor and his illicit tobacco trade
A significant share of Bangladesh’s illegal cigarette market is controlled by two companies where Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Councillor Abdus Sabur Liton and his brother have the majority stakes, an investigation by The Daily Star has found.
20 plates of rice, 118 plates of curries for a lunch of 4!
NRBC Bank’s top managers have great appetites.
The Daily Star Investigation / Dubious reward for a select few
Only a select 27 employees of NRBC Bank were given salary hikes, and that too astonishingly, in 2022 in violation of banking rules as well as NRBC’s own human resources policy
The Daily Star Investigation / NRBC branch covered up capital flight
Export proceeds worth at least $3.45 million (Tk 34.41 crore) were not repatriated by six customers of NRB Commercial Bank’s Uttara branch, and the bank concealed the trail of the capital flight, according to the bank’s internal audit and case documents.
The Daily Star Investigation / Gun in NRBC Bank boardroom
During the 40th board meeting of NRBC Bank on February 7, 2016, current Chairman Tamal Parvez and Director Adnan Imam entered the boardroom accompanied by a man carrying a large gun. Both Tamal and Adnan were board directors back then.
Star investigation / Sex trafficking: The untold exploitations of Bangladeshi women in India
Many Bangladeshi sex workers, once victims themselves, now serve as brothel managers, perpetuating the vicious cycle. They employ fellow countrywomen, who later become traffickers responsible for bringing new girls from Bangladesh into the clutches of these brothels.
Part-4 / No coming home
After rescuing trafficking victims, the Indian police do not take them to shelter centre; they file cases under criminal laws.
Drug admin official couldn't care less
Abul Khair Chowdhury is a government official now serving as an assistant director of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA). Intriguingly, police failed to get hold of him despite summon and arrest orders in the last two years.
JUSTICE DELAYED, NOT DENIED
Adflame's Paracetamol syrup Flammadol containing toxic chemical diethylene glycol was responsible for the deaths of a number of children between 1982 and 1992.
Secret cuts
Risky buildings can exist only when a government goes into hibernation and risky workplaces when an employer turns covertly criminal.
Cheap clothes at cost of life
Shaheena is finally out of the building, but not alive. Rescuers on Sunday made a frantic effort to pull out Shaheena from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza.
Target Taliban rule
Habibur himself revealed the link in an interview with a bulletin titled "Islami Biplob" (Islamic revolution), published on August 20, 1998, in Sylhet with the express purpose of celebrating "the total victory of Talibans and establishment of an Islamic state in Afghanistan".
Where LIES reign supreme
Photoshopped pictures, fake captions, doctored contents swarm social media; culprits abuse it for inciting fanaticism, running propaganda against war crimes trial, and for character assassination
A devil's design
An unprecedented hate campaign against the Buddhist community raged through Ramu, a region known for its communal harmony for centuries until the night of September 29. Eighteen pagodas were damaged and about 50 houses burnt down in six hours of madness by Muslim zealots. Julfikar Ali Manik investigated extensively, only to find that the source of the shocking outrage was a faked facebook page.
All records 'lost' from drug office
Documents available in court indicate clearly that the DGDA deliberately destroyed the cases. Meanwhile, people present during the 1992 drugs test recalled how proper steps regarding the matter had been bypassed since the very beginning.
Justice delayed, justice denied
The tests on the drugs were above suspicion; using newly installed gas chromatography equipment, they were conducted by the government's own drug testing laboratory under direct supervision of an expert consultant from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The results of subsequent independent testing -- undertaken in laboratories in the US and obtained by The Daily Star -- confirmed the results.
It was Hawa Bhaban plot
The Daily Star investigation reveals some characters behind the chilling conspiracy to kill Hasina; Babar 'supplied' grenades; Huji used as mercenary group