Staff Reporter :
Eight persons, including the chairman of Sajeeb Group, have been remanded in a case filed over Naryanganj’s Rupganj factory fire incident that killed at least 52 people.
Police produced all eight in a Narayanganj court around 5pm on Saturday, and Senior Judicial Magistrate Fahmida Khatun sent them on remand for four days each.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that the owner, several directors and managers of Sajeeb Group and the Hashem Food Ltd factory were among those taken into custody by police over the factory fire incident.
He made the disclosure while talking to the reporters at 2pm on Saturday after visiting the gutted factory in the Kornogop area of Bhulta, Rupganj.
Habibur Rahman, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dhaka Range Police, and Narayanganj’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Jayedul Alam also confirmed reporters of the development on Saturday afternoon.
Those arrested are Sajeeb Group Chairman and Managing Director Md Abul Hashem, 70; and his four sons Deputy Managing Director Hasib Bin Hashem, 39, Directors Tarek Ibrahim, 35, Tawsib Ibrahim, 33, and Tanjim Ibrahim, 21, Sajeeb Group Chief Executive Officer Shahan Shah Azad, 43; Hashem Foods Deputy General Manager Mamunur Rashid, 53, and Sajeeb Group Sub-Station Manager (Admin) Md Salahuddin, 30.
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that no one will be spared if their negligence was found over the incident, which also left more than 50 people with different kinds of injuries. “All responsible persons will be brought to book,” he said.
He said the Home Ministry has formed a committee to look into this incident. “The probe report will be submitted very soon and action will be taken quickly as well.”
Earlier on Saturday, police had picked up Hashem and his sons from their Gulshan residence in Dhaka and took them to the Rupganj Police Station.
Azad was arrested from the company’s head office in Dhaka’s Farmgate area, said SP Jayedul Alam.
They were shown arrested in the afternoon in a case filed by police at Rupganj
Police Station over the charges of murder and attempt to murder, confirmed the SP. Bhulta police outpost In-Charge Inspector Nazimuddin Mozumder started the case on Saturday morning.
Apart from the named eight accused, several unknown people were also accused in the case, DIG Habibur told the media.
Meanwhile, the rescue operation was formally called off on Saturday afternoon after 47 hours of efforts to douse the flames completely and find more victims or survivors, confirmed Fire Service and Civil Defence Deputy Director (Dhaka Division) Debashish Bardhan.
On Thursday evening, at least 49 workers-trapped on the third floor with its only exit locked-died when a massive fire engulfed the Hashem Foods factory building. Three others also died after jumping from the six-storey factory.
Most of the victims were women and children, who worked in the factory.
Meanwhile, only three of the deceased have been identified and their bodies were handed over to their families since Friday, police confirmed.
The bodies of Swapna Rani and Nina were handed over to their families on Friday after they died at a local hospital in Rupganj.
The third deceased — 22-year-old Morsalin Haque-died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Friday night. His body was handed over after an autopsy on Saturday afternoon.
The other dead bodies are yet to be identified as they had been completely burnt to an unidentifiable state.
The fire was finally brought under control on Friday night after 29 hours of frantic efforts.
The injured are undergoing treatment at DMCH and US-Bangla Medical College and Hospital at Rupganj.
Apart from the Home Ministry probe team, several other agencies and the local administration have also started investigations into the incident.
According to the Fire Service, a huge amount of plastic and packaging materials in the building had fueled the fire in just a few minutes after it broke out.
They said the blocked door at the factory’s staircase has caused so many deaths that could have been avoided.
