Bangladesh has once again pulled forward the clock on its commercial life. As of Thursday, shops, markets and malls across the country must shutter by 8 p.m., an hour earlier than before, part of a widening set of emergency conservation rules meant to squeeze a few more megawatts out of a grid that simply does not have enough to go around. Hospitals, pharmacies and food vendors are spared. Nearly everyone else is not.&nbsp;It is a strikingly familiar scene. Only months ago, during the height of regional turmoil triggered by the Iran conflict, Dhaka ordered an even stricter curfew on commerce, forcing businesses closed by 6 p.m. That the country finds itself repeating the exercise says less about a single bad week and more about a structural vulnerability that a distant war keeps exposing.&nbsp;<h2>A crisis built on two points of failure</h2>&nbsp;The immediate trigger is mechanical rather than political. A fire last month at an LNG terminal operated by the American firm Excelerate Energy knocked out roughly half the country's import capacity; the facility only resumed partial operations this week. Around the same time, rough seas prevented at least two LNG carriers from offloading their cargo at Bangladesh's terminals, compounding the shortfall just as demand was already outrunning supply.&nbsp;The numbers tell the story starkly. The power sector needs more than a billion cubic feet of gas daily; it is currently receiving around 700 million. With national electricity demand near 18,000 megawatts against a supply capped closer to 13,000, the arithmetic of blackout was almost inevitable. Rural areas outside Dhaka have borne the brunt, with some regions reporting outages stretching eight to ten hours a day, worsened by an ongoing heatwave.&nbsp;<h2>When the grid fails, so does patience</h2>&nbsp;The human cost is visible in ways that go beyond inconvenience. Frustration has spilled into open confrontation in several districts, with reports of vandalism and arson targeting electricity infrastructure in areas including Saidpur, Nilphamari and Kushtia. Utility workers report being harassed, and in some cases threatened, while attempting to collect overdue bills. The Bangladesh Palli Bidyut Association, which manages rural power cooperatives, has formally asked police to patrol substations and grid stations.&nbsp;The economic toll is just as tangible. Shrimp farmers, whose product makes Bangladesh the world's second-largest exporter of the crustacean, describe watching oxygen levels collapse in their ponds each time aerators lose power. The textile and garment sector, the backbone of the national economy, is similarly exposed to an unreliable grid. For an economy this dependent on continuous production cycles, prolonged load-shedding is not a nuisance; it is a direct threat to export competitiveness.&nbsp;<h2>The geopolitical undercurrent</h2>&nbsp;Bangladesh imports more than 90 percent of its oil and roughly 30 percent of its gas, a dependency that leaves its energy security hostage to global markets far beyond its control. The conflict centred on Iran rattled shipping routes, spiked fuel and LNG prices, and injected volatility into precisely the supply chains Dhaka relies on to keep the lights on. A country with thin domestic reserves and heavy import exposure has almost no buffer when that volatility hits.&nbsp;That exposure has pushed Bangladesh back toward an old, complicated relationship: its energy lifeline to India. The two countries are connected by the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, commissioned in 2017, under which New Delhi is committed to supplying 180,000 metric tonnes of diesel annually under a fifteen-year arrangement. Dhaka has now asked India to increase those flows, a request delivered directly to Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi by Bangladesh's energy minister, Iqbal Hassan Mahmood. India has already shipped more than 30,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh since the spring, when the Iran-linked disruptions first began rippling through South Asian energy markets.&nbsp;This quiet cooperation is notable precisely because political relations between the two nations have been anything but smooth. New Delhi's decision to shelter former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after her 2024 ouster has remained a persistent irritant for the government of Tarique Rahman, and Hasina's recent public remarks from Delhi, her first since fleeing Dhaka, have only sharpened tensions. Energy interdependence, it seems, is proving more durable than diplomatic goodwill. Bangladesh needs India's diesel regardless of how it feels about India's guest.

Bangladesh imports more than 90 percent of its oil and roughly 30 percent of its gas, a dependency that leaves its energy security hostage to global markets far beyond its control. A country with thin domestic reserves and heavy import exposure has almost no buffer when that volatility hits.

Bangladesh has once again pulled forward the clock on its commercial life. As of Thursday, shops, markets and malls across the country must shutter by 8 p.m., an hour earlier than before, part of a widening set of emergency conservation rules meant to squeeze a few more megawatts out of a grid that simply does not have enough to go around. Hospitals, pharmacies and food vendors are spared. Nearly everyone else is not. It is a strikingly familiar scene. Only months ago, during the height of regional turmoil triggered by the Iran conflict, Dhaka ordered an even stricter curfew on commerce, forcing businesses closed by 6 p.m. That the country finds itself repeating the exercise says less about a single bad week and more about a structural vulnerability that a distant war keeps exposing. A crisis built on two points of failure The immediate trigger is mechanical rather than political. A fire last month at an LNG terminal operated by the American firm Excelerate Energy knocked out roughly half the country's import capacity; the facility only resumed partial operations this week. Around the same time, rough seas prevented at least two LNG carriers from offloading their cargo at Bangladesh's terminals, compounding the shortfall just as demand was already outrunning supply. The numbers tell the story starkly. The power sector needs more than a billion cubic feet of gas daily; it is currently receiving around 700 million. With national electricity demand near 18,000 megawatts against a supply capped closer to 13,000, the arithmetic of blackout was almost inevitable. Rural areas outside Dhaka have borne the brunt, with some regions reporting outages stretching eight to ten hours a day, worsened by an ongoing heatwave. When the grid fails, so does patience The human cost is visible in ways that go beyond inconvenience. Frustration has spilled into open confrontation in several districts, with reports of vandalism and arson targeting electricity infrastructure in areas including Saidpur, Nilphamari and Kushtia. Utility workers report being harassed, and in some cases threatened, while attempting to collect overdue bills. The Bangladesh Palli Bidyut Association, which manages rural power cooperatives, has formally asked police to patrol substations and grid stations. The economic toll is just as tangible. Shrimp farmers, whose product makes Bangladesh the world's second-largest exporter of the crustacean, describe watching oxygen levels collapse in their ponds each time aerators lose power. The textile and garment sector, the backbone of the national economy, is similarly exposed to an unreliable grid. For an economy this dependent on continuous production cycles, prolonged load-shedding is not a nuisance; it is a direct threat to export competitiveness. The geopolitical undercurrent Bangladesh imports more than 90 percent of its oil and roughly 30 percent of its gas, a dependency that leaves its energy security hostage to global markets far beyond its control. The conflict centred on Iran rattled shipping routes, spiked fuel and LNG prices, and injected volatility into precisely the supply chains Dhaka relies on to keep the lights on. A country with thin domestic reserves and heavy import exposure has almost no buffer when that volatility hits. That exposure has pushed Bangladesh back toward an old, complicated relationship: its energy lifeline to India. The two countries are connected by the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, commissioned in 2017, under which New Delhi is committed to supplying 180,000 metric tonnes of diesel annually under a fifteen-year arrangement. Dhaka has now asked India to increase those flows, a request delivered directly to Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi by Bangladesh's energy minister, Iqbal Hassan Mahmood. India has already shipped more than 30,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh since the spring, when the Iran-linked disruptions first began rippling through South Asian energy markets. This quiet cooperation is notable precisely because political relations between the two nations have been anything but smooth. New Delhi's decision to shelter former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after her 2024 ouster has remained a persistent irritant for the government of Tarique Rahman, and Hasina's recent public remarks from Delhi, her first since fleeing Dhaka, have only sharpened tensions. Energy interdependence, it seems, is proving more durable than diplomatic goodwill. Bangladesh needs India's diesel regardless of how it feels about India's guest.

Bangladesh imports more than 90 percent of its oil and roughly 30 percent of its gas, a dependency that leaves its energy security hostage to global markets far beyond its control. A country with thin domestic reserves and heavy import exposure has almost no buffer when that volatility hits.

Blackout diplomacy: How the Iran War left Bangladesh in the dark

Barely 48 hours before Independence Day, an interception on the India-Bangladesh border has ignited a major espionage investigation in West Bengal after a suspected Pakistani operative was caught carrying a map and photographs of Fort William- the Indian Army's Eastern Command headquarters.&nbsp;Officers from the state's Special Task Force arrested the man, identified as Rana Rauf Khalid (alias Wahab Alam), along with an associate, Mohammad Ijaz, late Tuesday night in Habra, a border town in North 24 Parganas. The two were reportedly heading toward an unfenced stretch of the frontier along Jessore Road, apparently attempting to cross into Bangladesh, when STF personnel intercepted them.<h2>Fort William material at the centre of the probe</h2>The arrest has escalated into a wider security investigation because of what the two men were allegedly carrying: a map and photographs of Fort William, the historic garrison in Kolkata that now serves as headquarters for the Army's Eastern Command. Investigators are working to trace the origin of the material and its intended purpose.&nbsp;"One of the important aspects being examined is how the map and photographs of Fort William came into the possession of the accused, and whether these were part of any information-gathering activity," the STF official said.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-challenges-trump-s-hormuz-claim-says-tehran-controls-strait-not-us-1786622171668">Iran challenges Trump’s Hormuz claim; says Tehran controls strait, not US</a><h2>Wiped phones and a cross-border digital trail</h2>Mobile phones seized from the two men are said to contain social media exchanges and contact numbers linking to Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Some data had reportedly been deleted before the arrest, and reconstructing it has become a priority for investigators trying to map out the men's contacts and communications.&nbsp;The STF is also examining whether the pair had collected information on troop movements and infrastructure near the Petrapole and Ghojadanga border crossings- both considered sensitive points along the India-Bangladesh frontier- &nbsp;and whether their activities tie into a larger network active in the run-up to August 15. Officials stressed the investigation remains preliminary, with military intelligence units now involved.<h2>A trail from Faisalabad to Kathmandu to Topsia</h2>Investigators say Rauf is originally from Faisalabad, Pakistan, and moved to Kathmandu around 12 years ago to work as a wood-carving craftsman. It was there he is believed to have met Ijaz, a furniture trader from Kolkata's Topsia area.&nbsp;According to the STF, Rauf entered India six times over the years via the open, visa-free Indo-Nepal border, staying at Ijaz's Topsia residence for two- to three-month stretches each time. Investigators allege Ijaz helped him secure fake Aadhaar and voter ID documents during these visits, and that Rauf used the time to attempt recruiting young Indians for an as-yet-unspecified purpose.&nbsp;Officials say "confidential documents" recovered from the two men are being examined, though their contents haven't been made public. The STF is also probing Rauf's suspected links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, citing alleged contact with ISI officials at the Pakistani High Commission in Kathmandu.&nbsp;After the arrest, Rauf was taken to Habra hospital for a routine medical check-up. Both men were subsequently produced before a court in Barasat, which remanded them to 14 days of police custody.No confirmed link to earlier Purba Burdhaman case&nbsp;The arrest follows the STF's detention of another suspect, Hamim Mondal — allegedly linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed — from a housing complex in Purba Burdhaman on July 30. Mondal is accused of conducting reconnaissance near Chinar Park in New Town, Kolkata, where Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari resides, allegedly tracking his rallies and appearances to map security vulnerabilities.&nbsp;Investigators say no connection has been established between Rauf and Mondal so far, treating the two cases as separate threads for now.

A suspected Pakistani spy was arrested near the India-Bangladesh border with reconnaissance material linked to Fort William, while security agencies probe his alleged connections with Pakistan's ISI.

Barely 48 hours before Independence Day, an interception on the India-Bangladesh border has ignited a major espionage investigation in West Bengal after a suspected Pakistani operative was caught carrying a map and photographs of Fort William- the Indian Army's Eastern Command headquarters. Officers from the state's Special Task Force arrested the man, identified as Rana Rauf Khalid (alias Wahab Alam), along with an associate, Mohammad Ijaz, late Tuesday night in Habra, a border town in North 24 Parganas. The two were reportedly heading toward an unfenced stretch of the frontier along Jessore Road, apparently attempting to cross into Bangladesh, when STF personnel intercepted them. Fort William material at the centre of the probe The arrest has escalated into a wider security investigation because of what the two men were allegedly carrying: a map and photographs of Fort William, the historic garrison in Kolkata that now serves as headquarters for the Army's Eastern Command. Investigators are working to trace the origin of the material and its intended purpose. "One of the important aspects being examined is how the map and photographs of Fort William came into the possession of the accused, and whether these were part of any information-gathering activity," the STF official said. Also Read: Iran challenges Trump’s Hormuz claim; says Tehran controls strait, not US Wiped phones and a cross-border digital trail Mobile phones seized from the two men are said to contain social media exchanges and contact numbers linking to Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Some data had reportedly been deleted before the arrest, and reconstructing it has become a priority for investigators trying to map out the men's contacts and communications. The STF is also examining whether the pair had collected information on troop movements and infrastructure near the Petrapole and Ghojadanga border crossings- both considered sensitive points along the India-Bangladesh frontier- and whether their activities tie into a larger network active in the run-up to August 15. Officials stressed the investigation remains preliminary, with military intelligence units now involved. A trail from Faisalabad to Kathmandu to Topsia Investigators say Rauf is originally from Faisalabad, Pakistan, and moved to Kathmandu around 12 years ago to work as a wood-carving craftsman. It was there he is believed to have met Ijaz, a furniture trader from Kolkata's Topsia area. According to the STF, Rauf entered India six times over the years via the open, visa-free Indo-Nepal border, staying at Ijaz's Topsia residence for two- to three-month stretches each time. Investigators allege Ijaz helped him secure fake Aadhaar and voter ID documents during these visits, and that Rauf used the time to attempt recruiting young Indians for an as-yet-unspecified purpose. Officials say "confidential documents" recovered from the two men are being examined, though their contents haven't been made public. The STF is also probing Rauf's suspected links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, citing alleged contact with ISI officials at the Pakistani High Commission in Kathmandu. After the arrest, Rauf was taken to Habra hospital for a routine medical check-up. Both men were subsequently produced before a court in Barasat, which remanded them to 14 days of police custody. No confirmed link to earlier Purba Burdhaman case The arrest follows the STF's detention of another suspect, Hamim Mondal — allegedly linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed — from a housing complex in Purba Burdhaman on July 30. Mondal is accused of conducting reconnaissance near Chinar Park in New Town, Kolkata, where Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari resides, allegedly tracking his rallies and appearances to map security vulnerabilities. Investigators say no connection has been established between Rauf and Mondal so far, treating the two cases as separate threads for now.

A suspected Pakistani spy was arrested near the India-Bangladesh border with reconnaissance material linked to Fort William, while security agencies probe his alleged connections with Pakistan's ISI.

Pakistani spy held near India-Bangladesh border with Fort William recon material; ISI links under probe

Two years after a young doctor's rape and murder at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital convulsed West Bengal, the case has claimed its most politically significant scalp yet. Nirmal Ghosh, a former Trinamool Congress MLA from Panihati, was arrested in Odisha on Thursday, accused of orchestrating a hurried, unauthorised cremation that the victim's family says was designed to destroy evidence.&nbsp;Ghosh was brought back to Bengal by a Barrackpore Police Commissionerate team after evading investigators for days following an FIR lodged against him at Khardah police station. His son, Tirthankar Ghosh, had already been arrested in an earlier phase of the investigation in July.<h2>What the Family Alleges</h2>The FIR, filed by the father of the victim- referred to as Abhaya- centres on the chaotic hours after the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee's body was discovered at RG Kar on August 9, 2024. The complaint alleges that Ghosh, along with two local municipal councillors, forced entry into the family's home, intimidated relatives, and had the body driven to the Panihati crematorium without giving the family time to grieve or the chance to consent.&nbsp;The family maintains the cremation was rushed specifically to prevent a second post-mortem examination- one they believe could have surfaced forensic evidence contradicting the official account of the crime. Investigators have flagged several irregularities that lend weight to that suspicion:&nbsp;<ul><li>&nbsp;The doctor's body was third in the queue at the crematorium, yet was moved to the front without explanation.</li><li>&nbsp;The cremation certificate carries no signature from any family member.</li><li>Instead, Sanjib Mukherjee — a neighbour the family did not know — reportedly signed the document as the informant.</li></ul>Ghosh now faces charges including criminal trespass, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, causing disappearance of evidence, trespass on burial places, criminal conspiracy, and preparing a false record as a public servant, carrying a potential sentence of up to seven years. Two other named accused, former Panihati Municipality councillors Somnath Dey and Sanjib Mukherjee, were already in police custody earlier in the week.<h2>The Politics Behind the Arrest</h2>Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal's Chief Minister after BJP's rise to power, has used the RG Kar case to reinforce the party's political messaging around justice for "Abhaya," the pseudonym given to the murdered doctor. He announced a fresh probe into the case at the request of the victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, who is now a BJP MLA, ordering a special investigation and a separate probe into the alleged mishandling of the cremation. Central to his allegations was the claim that the victim's body, originally third in the crematorium queue at Natagarh Kadamtala, was abruptly moved to first position and cremated in unusual haste, with cremation charges left unpaid by the family. Adhikari framed this as part of a broader commitment, declaring the government's resolve to fight for justice and recalling the emotional weight of August 9, 2024, the day the doctor's body was found.

Former TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh has been arrested in Odisha in connection with the alleged hurried cremation of the RG Kar rape-murder victim. The case raises fresh questions over possible evidence tampering, irregularities in the cremation process and the events following the doctor's death.

Two years after a young doctor's rape and murder at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital convulsed West Bengal, the case has claimed its most politically significant scalp yet. Nirmal Ghosh, a former Trinamool Congress MLA from Panihati, was arrested in Odisha on Thursday, accused of orchestrating a hurried, unauthorised cremation that the victim's family says was designed to destroy evidence. Ghosh was brought back to Bengal by a Barrackpore Police Commissionerate team after evading investigators for days following an FIR lodged against him at Khardah police station. His son, Tirthankar Ghosh, had already been arrested in an earlier phase of the investigation in July. What the Family Alleges The FIR, filed by the father of the victim- referred to as Abhaya- centres on the chaotic hours after the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee's body was discovered at RG Kar on August 9, 2024. The complaint alleges that Ghosh, along with two local municipal councillors, forced entry into the family's home, intimidated relatives, and had the body driven to the Panihati crematorium without giving the family time to grieve or the chance to consent. The family maintains the cremation was rushed specifically to prevent a second post-mortem examination- one they believe could have surfaced forensic evidence contradicting the official account of the crime. Investigators have flagged several irregularities that lend weight to that suspicion: The doctor's body was third in the queue at the crematorium, yet was moved to the front without explanation. The cremation certificate carries no signature from any family member. Instead, Sanjib Mukherjee — a neighbour the family did not know — reportedly signed the document as the informant. Ghosh now faces charges including criminal trespass, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, causing disappearance of evidence, trespass on burial places, criminal conspiracy, and preparing a false record as a public servant, carrying a potential sentence of up to seven years. Two other named accused, former Panihati Municipality councillors Somnath Dey and Sanjib Mukherjee, were already in police custody earlier in the week. The Politics Behind the Arrest Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal's Chief Minister after BJP's rise to power, has used the RG Kar case to reinforce the party's political messaging around justice for "Abhaya," the pseudonym given to the murdered doctor. He announced a fresh probe into the case at the request of the victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, who is now a BJP MLA, ordering a special investigation and a separate probe into the alleged mishandling of the cremation. Central to his allegations was the claim that the victim's body, originally third in the crematorium queue at Natagarh Kadamtala, was abruptly moved to first position and cremated in unusual haste, with cremation charges left unpaid by the family. Adhikari framed this as part of a broader commitment, declaring the government's resolve to fight for justice and recalling the emotional weight of August 9, 2024, the day the doctor's body was found.

Former TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh has been arrested in Odisha in connection with the alleged hurried cremation of the RG Kar rape-murder victim. The case raises fresh questions over possible evidence tampering, irregularities in the cremation process and the events following the doctor's death.

Former TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh arrested in RG Kar cremation cover-up case

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