Landlord arrested for construction worker's death

Pubail Police Station was inaugurated on Sunday at a rented flat of a “risky” two-storey building.

A construction worker was electrocuted to death the next night while painting a wall of the building in Pubail area of Gazipur city.

In the first case lodged with the police station, the building owner was arrested on Tuesday on charges of violating construction rules.

Police arrested Abdur Rashid while trying to settle the matter with the family of the dead worker Mohammad Jahangir, 37, said Nazmul Haque Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge of the police station.

Jahangir's uncle Momin filed the case accusing Rashid of negligence in construction work, flouting rules, and constructing the building under a high-voltage wire of an adjacent power sub-station, the OC said.

People in the neighbourhood also urged him not to construct the building so close to the sub-station, but he didn't listen, the officer added.

The OC said, Jahangir was killed after he came in contact with a 30,000-volt wire.

Asked why police rented a flat on such a “risky” building, the OC said officers were in a hurry and could not check everything.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday inaugurated via video conference the Gazipur Metropolitan Police with seven police stations, including the one in Pubail.