Satkhira, July 20 (UNB)— A man was detained for allegedly raping a class eight madrasa girl at Durgapur village in Assasuni upazila on Saturday. 

Locals caught Liton Gazi, 24, son of Asadul Gazi of the village and handed over him to police.

Quoting locals, police said Liton used to stalk the victim. He went to her house on Friday night and raped her. Locals rushed in hearing the victim’s screams and caught him.

Locals said Liton is a criminal, a drug addict and a drug peddler. 

Abdus Salam, officer-in-charge of Assasuni Police Station, said the victim’s father has filed a case.

Dhaka, July 20 (UNB) – Two employees of a fast-food outlet sustained burns in Shonirakhra after the air-conditioner of the shop exploded on Saturday.

Locals rescued Md Saiful Islam, 21, and Md Imran, 20, around 10am and took them to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Burn unit’s Dr Partha Sanker Pal said Saiful and Imran suffered 70 percent and 30 percent burns respectively. Their windpipes were also damaged.

Duty Officer of Fire Service headquarters Luma Khandker said the victims worked at ‘Bergaro’ at Goalbari intersection. “They were injured when the AC exploded,” Luma said.

Imran said they smelled something burning after opening the shop and then there was a loud explosion.

Faridpur, July 20 (UNB) – Vast swathes of farmland were submerged in three upazilas of the district as the Padma River continued to swell on Saturday. 

The river rose 12cm in the last 24 hours in the morning, said a water reader of the Goalanda point. Padma was flowing 66cm above the danger level at 6am.

Alam Sarkar, a farmer of North Channel area, said the flood had destroyed his livelihood. “My Aush and Aman paddy fields have been inundated before I could harvest,” he lamented.

Thousands of farmers like Alam are now staring at a bleak future.

Faridpur Agriculture Extension Department sources said 2,846 hectares of Aman and 1,098 hectares of Aush, and 124 hectares of vegetable field had gone under water in three unions of the Sadar upazila alone.

Hundreds of banana orchards were also inundated.

Roksana Rahman, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said they will make a list of affected farmers and rehabilitate them after flood. “There’s an instruction from government in this regard,” she said.

Madaripur, July 20 (UNB) — A man, accused of raping and killing a class X student, was arrested on Saturday morning from the Sadar upazila’s Charnachana village.

“A Rab team raided the area and arrested Sajjad Hossain, 45, from his house around 5am,” Atika Islam, additional director of RAB-8 Madaripur camp, told the media.

Rab said Sajjad, an auto-rickshaw driver by profession and a resident of the village, had confessed to his crimes. He was handed over to the Sadar Model Police Station in the afternoon.

On July 11, the victim, 14-year-old Dipty, had gotten on Sajjad’s vehicle when returning home to Charmuguria from her sister’s house. She was the only passenger when the vehicle reached East Khagdi area where the driver lived. 

Sajjad forcefully took her to his house where he sedated and raped the girl. But at one stage, when Dipty fell ill, he strangled her. He tied bricks to her neck and put the body in a sack before dumping it in a nearby pond.

Two days later, locals saw the body floating in the pond and contacted police. The victim’s family identified the body from her clothes.

Her family filed a case with Sadar Model Police Station on July 14.

Dhaka, July 20 (UNB) – Claiming that the dengue prevalence in Bangladesh is under control compared to other countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon urged city dwellers to remain alert and not to be panicked.

He made the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting with a four-member delegation of the World Health Organization (WHO) at his residence in the morning.

WHO acting Country Representative for Bangladesh Dr Edwin Salvador led the delegation at the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the dengue situation is alarming in Bangladesh but not out of control.

WHO and DSCC will work jointly to face the situation, Dr Edwin said, adding that they will put forward a report after observing the situation and the city corporation will work on the basis of the report.

Mentioning that aedes mosquitos are born in transparent water, not in drains or filthy water, DSCC Mayor Sayeed said there is no alternative to awareness to this end. “We’ve destroyed the sources of aedes mosquitos in 33,000 houses in the city in February last and taught the owners ways of destroying those. But it’s regrettable that we find the same previous situation when we revisit the houses.”

Asked about the expired or ineffective medicines to control mosquitos in the city, he said they use medicines supplied by Bangladesh Navy. “We’ll look into whether there’s any problem in the medicines.”

WHO Team Leader for Health Emergencies Dr Hammam El Sakka, Dr Rajendra Bohara of its IVD Immunization and Vaccine Development Unit and Dhaka Divisional Coordinator Dr Jahangir Alam, and DSEC Chief Executive Officer Mustafizur Rahman were, among others, present at the meeting.