Investigative Stories

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

3w ago

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.

4m ago

20 plates of rice, 118 plates of curries for a lunch of 4!

NRBC Bank’s top managers have great appetites. 

6m ago

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

6m ago

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.

6m ago

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.

6m ago

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.

9m ago

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.

9m ago

Life lost amid irregularities

The captain of a Biman flight was napping in the crew rest area, leaving the cockpit of a Boeing 777-300ER technically unmanned, when a passenger had a heart attack

1y ago

Graft is his middle name

Internal GCC enquiry upon directive of LGRD ministry exposes countless misdeeds of suspended mayor Zahangir Alam

1y ago

Tk 2.60cr into thin air

A bank account was opened in the name of ex-mayor Zahangir Alam, and was later used for the transaction of Gazipur City Corporation’s money.

1y ago

‘Border bars’ for Bangladeshis

It was a cloudy afternoon on October 2 at Shahpur border in Cumilla.

1y ago

Biman recruitment test: High officials linked to question leak

On 21 October 2022, Biman Bangladesh was to hold a recruitment exam for 10 posts for electricians, mechanics, welders, painters, operators and tailors. Around two hours before the exam, the recruitment process was suspended -- the question paper had been leaked.

1y ago

Presumed dead in Thai jungle: 2 photos and hope rekindled

Hearing the news of the mass graves discovered in Thailand in 2015, family members of three men who had left Bangladesh two years ago thought they were among those buried.

2y ago

Capacity payments for power plants: One third goes to three firms

Thirty-five percent of all capacity payments the government made to independent power producers (IPPs) over the last three years went to two private companies and a joint venture.

2y ago

Where do the ‘disappeared’ disappear to?

While their families search every alleyway, survivors say that they lived right around the corner in the capital city. 

2y ago

A family forced into never-ending distress

Four years ago, some plainclothesmen picked up Mohon Mia from his Mirpur house. He has never returned home again. His father Jamsher Ali, a trader, has long insisted he has proof that Rab-4 members took his elder son away without giving any reason.

2y ago

From the archives: Aug 21 Attack on Hasina — a Hawa Bhaban plot

It was a long, dark plot. A chilling conspiracy was getting final touches in an eerie August of 2004, a month that brings to mind the memories of a past bloodbath. The plot for a high-profile assassination was awaiting approval, again.

2y ago