An ex-government official was killed by alleged robbers, and a balloon vendor was killed and five were injured in a gas cylinder blast in the capital’s Rampura and Madhya Badda areas respectively.
In the Rampura murder, SI of Rampura police station Saidul Islam said Abu Taher, 73, a retired tax commissioner, who was attacked by a gang of robbers, died at United Hospital in Gulshan yesterday. Quoting Taher’s son, ATM Ariful Haque, the SI said Taher and Rokeya, 60, lived on their own. “Around 3am, four armed youths entered the flat, after cutting a window grill.”
They knocked on the door to his parent’s bedroom, where the parents were asleep. As Rokeya opened the door, the robbers held them hostage, showing their weapons and took the wardrobe keys.
When Taher tried to stop the robbers, they hacked at him, leaving him injured, Ariful claimed. After the gang left, Rokeya shouted for help and neighbours came forward and rushed them to the hospital.
Meanwhile, in Madhya Badda, a balloon vendor was killed and five injured as a gas cylinder exploded around 10am. The dead Ali Hossain, 35, used to live at Panchtala of the area.
The gas cylinder exploded when Ali and his workers were at their workshop. The injured were rushed to DMCH, where duty doctors declared him dead around 11:45am, confirmed Muzammel Haque, in-charge of DMCH police camp.
The injured include the victim’s brother, Billal Hossain, vendor Akhter Hossain, and workers Borhan Uddin, Manik and Al-Amin, all of whom are in critical condition.
Ali’s wife Yasmin said her husband’s legs were separated from his body in the blast.