A gang of five, angered by the refusal, threw acid on the sleeping members of the family at their house at Alamdasta in Rajair at 1:00 in the morning. Landlady Nasima Akhter's right side of body was badly burnt, while her husband Yunus Shiekh suffered burns in some parts of the body.

Badal Mirdha, Nasima's brother, rushed to his sister's aid on hearing her cry and had his chest, hands and legs burnt in the process, as he embraced her without knowing what was going on.

Yunus chased the criminals in vain, but identified Mahfuz, Kalam Mollah, Anwar Hossain Mollah, Sadeq Hossian Mollah, and Pannu Mollah, while they were running away.

The burnt were rushed to Rajair Thana Health Complex. Nasima and Badal were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday morning as their conditions deteriorated.

"They came to throw acid on my 11-year-old daughter Mousumi. They also abducted her from Madaripur about two months back and kept her confined at Jatrabari in Dhaka for three days," Nasima told The Daily Star yesterday.

Earlier, Nasima said she had lent Sirajul Haq Tk 1 lakh at the rate of Tk 10,000 interest a month three years back.

"I called local seniors three months back, as Sirajul returned no money even after 32 months. In presence of the seniors he offered me a marriage between Mousumi and his 25-year-old addicted and criminal son Suman and termed the money would-be dowry. On my refusal, Sirajul picked her," Nasima said.

"Families and local influentials met twice and told me that Mousumi cannot be married off to somewhere else 'after she passed three days with males no matter how old she is'," she said.

"But we continued to refuse and filed a case against Sumon and his parents for kidnapping my daughter," Nasima continued. "And they threatened me 15 days ago of dire consequences if we did not withdraw the case within one week."