Youth wearing mask climbed wall, set fire to district election office

An incident of arson has occurred at the Lakshmipur District Election Office, resulting in the burning of several items and documents kept in a room on the ground floor of the office.

The incident took place at approximately 4:00 am today, Saturday. Election officials have stated that petrol was poured into the room and then set alight.

CCTV footage shows a masked youth entering the premises in the early hours of the morning by scaling the western boundary wall of the office.

A short while later, flames can be seen erupting in one of the rooms of the office. Immediately afterwards, the same masked individual is seen leaving the premises in the same manner by scaling the wall.

Lakshmipur Sadar Upazila election officer Md Faroque Hossain said, “A masked youth poured petrol and set fire to the room.

At that time, our security guard inside the office was asleep. When the guard became aware of the fire and shouted, the masked youth fled the scene.”

Md Faroque Hossain further stated that the fire, which was set in the storeroom, destroyed second copies of voter forms from the years 2008 and 2009.

In addition, an unusable desktop computer, a CPU and some other equipment were also damaged. The fire was brought under control within a short period of time.

District election officer Md Abdur Rashid said that some official documents were burnt in the fire. However, as the incident was detected quickly, no major damage occurred and the fire was extinguished promptly.

Election officials reported that upon receiving news of the fire, members of the Fire Service rushed to the scene.

However, the fire had already been brought under control by then. The District Commissioner, along with senior police officials, visited the site.

When contacted, the additional superintendent of police (Sadar circle), Rezaul Hoque, said that the arson was a planned act carried out with the intention of sabotage.

Operations are under way to apprehend those involved. The police will conduct an investigation and take the necessary legal action. Security at the election office will be strengthened.