Tea seller hurt critically in stove fire

A tea vendor suffered severe burns as he fell on a kerosene stove after being pushed allegedly by a police source accompanied by some cops out to pick him up from his stall last night.

The incident occurred in Gudaraghat of the capital's Mirpur area around 9:30pm, eyewitnesses said.

Locals rushed victim Babul Matabbar to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. A hospital official said Babul had sustained burns on 90 percent of his body and his condition was very critical.

Babul's wife Lucky Begum, 40, said a police source named Delowar, accompanied by some policeman in a microbus, went to the shop twice in the afternoon.

"On both occasions, Delowar demanded money from my husband, and threatened to frame him in a narcotics case otherwise. But my husband refused to pay him."

Babul once used to peddle marijuana but had been running the roadside tea-stall for the past few months and living a "clean life", according to Lucky.

"Then around 9:30pm, Delowar again returned with the policemen. He and two or three policemen stepped outside the vehicle.

"Delowar asked my husband to get onto the microbus. But as he [Babul] refused to do that, Delowar tried to force my husband onto the vehicle. When my husband tried to free himself, they pushed him and he fell on the burning tea stove," said Lucky who was on the spot at the time.

"Since I was trying to help my husband, one of the policemen, who had got out of the vehicle, hit me with a stick," she added.

AKM Reazuddin Molla, sub-inspector of Shah Ali Police Station, confirmed that Delowar was indeed a police source and had gone to the tea stall.

He, however, claimed he was not sure if there was any policeman with Delowar.

"We are looking for Delowar to arrest him," the police officer added.