Two more arson victims succumbed to their injuries yesterday in Chittagong and Rajshahi, taking the blockade death toll to 86.
At the Chittagong Medical College Hospital, 30-year-old day labourer Ranjit Nath – who had 82% burn injuries to his body – lost his battle for life.
Ranjit was admitted to the hospital after pickets hurled a petrol bomb at the autorickshaw he was on near the Chariya Madrasa area of Hathazari upazila on Wednesday night. The incident also left the autorickshaw driver – Md Saber – injured.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Pankaj Barua of the CMCH police outpost said Ranjit died at around 12:40am at the ICU.
Dr Mrinal Kanti Das, head of the CMCH burn and plastic surgery department, said Ranjit was moved to the ICU on Thursday as his respiratory tract was inflamed.
The CNG driver, Saber, is now fighting for his life with damages to his respiratory system.
Following the arson attack, the police filed a case with Hathazari police station mentioning names of 33 BNP-Jamaat men and 15 unidentified others; so far, 17 people have been arrested in this connection.
Meanwhile at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, 40-year-old Selim Sheikh died from injuries that he sustained from an arson attack in Gomostapur of Chapainawabganj on Wednesday.
Selim, a helper of a truck driver, had suffered burn injuries to 50% of his body including his respiratory system, said the hospital’s Director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin.
On Wednesday evening, pickets torched a potato-laden truck in Gomostapur – hurting Selim along with truck driver Firoz Uddin, 30, and potato trader Saheb Ali, 40.
Elsewhere, in Lakshmipur sadar upazila’s Bashikpur, miscreants torched the local union land office in the early hours of yesterday, after holding members of the village police force captive at gun-point.
The blaze burnt important files and papers, said union parishad Panel Chairman Liakot Ali, adding that some 10-12 masked men confined VDP members Anwar Hossain, Abdur Sattar and Belal Hossain before launching the attack.
In the capital, the police yesterday detained at least 12 BNP-Jamaat activists in separate raids throughout the city. They were held allegedly for planning sabotage in the capital during BNP’s ongoing political programmes, according to a text message by the media wing of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Of the arrestees, 11 are BNP men and one is an activist of Jamaat.
