Burnt Bus driver was asleep

 

The driver was burned to death and his assistant suffered injuries as their bus was set alight at the capital’s Khilgaon yesterday on the eve of a hartal called by the opposition.
Six more buses were torched at Azimpur, Abdullahpur Beribadh, Gulistan, Darus Salam, Farmgate and near Bahadur Shah Park, fire brigade officials said.
Police identified the ill-fated bus driver as Badar Ali Beg, 48. They took the injured, Abdul Motaleb, 26, to Khilgaon police station for interrogation.

Motaleb, who suffered burns on his neck and back of his head, told The Daily Star that the two slept on the isle; Motaleb was closer to the doors. In the afternoon, excessive heat woke him up, and seeing fire and smoke, he jumped out of a window. All the doors were locked.
For the moment, he forgot that the driver was inside, he said.
None in the area could say how and by whom the bus was set on fire.
Roadside tea stall owners, vendors or road construction workers said they did not see the fire start. They said three buses of Eagle Paribahan were parked their and the one at the end got burned.

Mohammad Hasan, a road construction worker, told this correspondent that around 2:00pm he and some other workers were bathing about 30 yards off the buses.
They suddenly noticed the fire on one of the buses. They rushed to it and saw the helper jump out.
“Ustad”, the youth cried out and said his “boss” was inside, Hasan said. The people prevented him from approaching the burning bus.
Firefighters put out the blaze around 2:30pm.
Salesman Tapash Chakrabarti at Eagle Paribahan Bus Counter on DIT Road, Malibagh said, the bus came from Khulna to the counter around 11:00am and went to the spot so that the drivers and helpers can take rest. The 40-seat chair coach was scheduled to leave for Khulna at 3:00pm.
Sirajul Islam Sheikh, officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station, told this correspondent that till yesterday evening police could not know who set the bus on fire and find any witness to the arson.(SONY5STR.BLOGSPOT.COM