Fire at BCL president’s home in Panchagarh

A room of the village home of Saddam Hussain, president of banned student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League, in Boda municipality of Panchagarh was gutted in a fire in the early hours on Tuesday.

The incident took place around 1:00 am. The fire service could not immediately find out what had sparked the fire, but estimated the losses to be at least Tk 100,000.

According to the Boda upazila fire service and local sources, the locals noticed a fire in the tin-roofed room of the residence and shouted to warn the family members. They along with the family members and locals tried to douse the fire and informed the Boda fire service.

Later, the firefighters stepped in and brought the fire under control. Saddam Hossain has been in hiding since the ouster of the Awami League government. His family members, including parents, were in the house during the fire.

Earlier, a group of aggrieved people set fire to the residence on 5 August. After repairing three rooms, Saddam’s family members continued residing there.

Anwara Begum, mother of Saddam, said, “We were asleep when a nephew started shouting that there was a fire at around 1:20 am. After waking up, I saw the straw-filled room in our yard ablaze. I don’t know how it caught fire.”

She also noted that the fire doesn’t seem accidental, rather an intentional one. She also noted that two individuals on a speeding motorcycle were seen asking the locals to come forward as Saddam’s home was ablaze.

The room was filled with straw from 10 bighas of paddy as well as firewood, she said, adding the army and fire service responded promptly and extinguished the fire.

Md Raihan Islam, warehouse inspector at Boda upazila fire service, told Prothom Alo that they reached the spot around 1:30 am and extinguished the fire within around an hour, with help from the army. They roughly estimated the losses at around Tk 100,000, while the reason behind the fire remains unknown.

Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Atwari police station, also confirmed the incident and said they are looking into the incident.