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.

Kushtia, July 20 (UNB)- Death of a woman reportedly for excessive bleeding after delivery of a child at a private clinic in Bheramara upazila here sparked protests on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Ritu Khatun, 22, wife of Anisur Rahman of Mirpur upazila.

Locals and relatives of the deceased caught clinic owners- Ashraful and Shilpu Khatun-and gave them a good thrashing .

Family sources said Ritu was admitted to the clinic with labour pain at 12 am on Friday when the clinic owner told them that there is no option except a cesarean operation.

Dr TA Kamali conducted the operation and a baby boy was born but the mother died of profuse bleeding, they said.

The hospital authorities sent the body and new born baby to their home at night by a rented private car.

Rifaj Uddin, Bheramara Police Station’s second officer, said agitated locals and the relatives of the deceased took position in front of the clinic on Saturday morning and beat up clinic owners Ashraful and Shilpi Khatun.

On information, police rushed to the spot and arrested Ashraful and Shilpi Khatun.

However, Dr TA Kamali fled the hospital after the incident, he added.

Nagaon, July 20 (UNB)- Police arrested two youths for stealing a journalist’s laptop at Jhurripatti in Santahar upazila here on Friday.

The arrestees  are auto-rickhswa driver Sumon Chowdhury and Toton of the area.

Daily Janakantha’s reporter Harejujjaman Harej said that the laptop was stolen from his house when he was not at home.

Santahar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Anisur Rahman said they recovered the laptop digging soil in the area.

Sub-Inspector Omar Faruk identified the thieves after examining the footage of a close circuit camera where three thieves were seen taking the laptop from the house at 5pm on July 12, he added.

Moulvibazar, July 20 (UNB)- Rail communications on Dhaka-Sylhet route remained suspended for an hour on Saturday following derailment of a compartment of a  Dhaka-bound intercity train in Kulaura upazila.

Muhib Uddin, station master of Kulaura Junction, said a compartment of Kalni express train from Sylhet veered off the tracks while entering Kulaura junction at 9am, halting train communications on Dhaka-Sylhet route.

The train communications were resumed after the compartment was removed at 10am, he added.

Two wheels of Dhaka-bound intercity Joyantika Express derailed at the same spot on Friday.

On June 24, six bogies of Upaban Express train derailed in Kulaura upazila, killing at least four passengers and injuring over 200 others.