Three burned with boiling water
Three people, including a trader and his son, suffered burns yesterday as an Awami League activist of Old Dhaka reportedly threw boiling water at them for not paying extortion money.
The injured are Rob Pradhan, 60, general secretary of Islambagh Bibidho Shop Owners' Association, his son Abdus Salam, 29, and passerby Hossain, 50. They are undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
According to the father and son, it was Maruf Hossain Khoka, an activist of Ward-29 unit of the ruling party, who had injured them in Islambagh area around 2:00pm yesterday.
Khoka demanded Tk 10 lakh four days ago over the construction of a six-storey building of one of Pradhan's cousin in the area, the two said.
As Pradhan refused to pay the money, Khoka accompanied by 20 men yesterday called him out of the house and started beating him.
When Salam came to the rescue of his father, Khoka hurled boiling water at them from the kettle of a nearby tea store, leaving the two and the passerby burnt, said witnesses.
A medical officer at the DMCH said Pradhan suffered nine percent burns -- his head, face, chest, two hands and left leg were burnt. Salam and Hossain suffered two and four percent burns respectively.
The Daily Star could not reach Khoka for comments.
Shamim-ur-Rashid Talukder, officer-in-charge of Chawk Bazar Police Station, said Khoka fled after the incident and they are trying to arrest him.
No case was filed as of 8:00pm, according to the OC.
Posters are seen in the area, highlighting images of Khoka and different local and central AL leaders and identifying him as a joint general secretary of the ward unit.
Police and local AL men say Khoka has affiliation with the party but they cannot confirm if he is a joint general secretary.
A Jubo League leader, who is also a member of Islambagh Panchayet Committee, a local arbitration body, said Khoka is a former joint general secretary of the unit. But he still flexes muscle in the locality by using that identity and there are reports that he is engaged in extortion and other criminal activities.
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