Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members on Thursday arrested the key accused in the incident of gang-raping a woman while committing burglary tying her husband and son in Morrelganj upazila in Bagerhat. The arrestee was identified as Riaz Shikder,38, son of Abdul Mazid from  Barshibah village in the upazila. Rab Khulna-6 nabbed the accused from Bagmara area in Kachua upazila during a drive, said Police Superintendant Al-Asad Md Mahfuzul Islam, also company commander of Rab-6. He said Rab started a shadow investigation along with police after a case was filed at Morrelganj police station on Wednesday following the complaint lodged by the woman’s husband accusing Riaz and some 10 others. Riaz is being interrogated at the Rab-6 office and efforts are on to capture the other accused, said the SP.  Also read: Gang-rape in Bagherhat: Key accused held by Rab Meanwhile, Bagerhat Chief Judicial Magistrate recorded the statement of the woman in this case under section 22, said Md Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury, Officer-in-Charge of Morrelganj police station. Dr Sheikh Adnan Hossain, Resident Medical Officer (RMO) of Bagerhat Sadar Hospital said, “A board consisting three female physicians has conducted the medical examinations of the housewife and they will soon give a report”. In late hours of Tuesday, a gang of burglars entered a day-labourer’s house by digging through the lower part of the mud house before committing the crime. Also read: Schoolgirl gang-raped in Bagerhat They also took way gold jewellery, money and other valuables from the house before fleeing, said the husband in the complaint.

Rozina Begum’s tin-roofed house in Uttar Chandpai village in Mongla upazila is surrounded by water on three sides. Yet excessive salinity has rendered the water unfit for use in cooking or drinking. Every day middle-aged Rozina walks three kilometres from her home to fetch water from a river even for cooking the family’s meals.  And she has to buy saline-free drinking water. “There have been days we passed without eating rice as there was no water to cook it,” said Rozina as she narrated her miseries to the UNB correspondent this week in her Chandpai village of the upazila.   Read:Covid fear deprives Bagerhat of its legendary Shikdar Bari’s Puja She said her poor family also spends up to Tk 30 to 40 to collect the day’s drinking water. Rozina’s neighbours Fuljaan Bibi, Khalil Mia, Haoa Begum, Mukul Molla and Dulal Sheikh have similar tales of water woes to share. An invasion of saline sea water has made the sweet water in ponds, canals and other water bodies of the district’s coastal villages unfit for any use. Salinity higher than the permissible limit has been found in underground water too, making it difficult for the villagers to use well water. Read Agro revolution to be seen in saline areas: Dr Razzaque Up to 85 per cent of the district’s population have now little access to sweet drinkable water, according to studies. Diseases related to long-time excessive use of saline water have also become a big problem. Many are turning to harvesting rainwater with the technology being provided by NGOs like Brac.