Rajuk asst director sent to prison
A Dhaka court yesterday sent Rajuk Assistant Director Shah Md Sadrul Alam to jail, rejecting his bail prayer in connection with a case filed over the Banani FR Tower design manipulation.
Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge’s Court of Dhaka passed the order, after ACC Deputy Director Md Abubakar Siddique, investigation officer (IO) of the case, produced him before it.
In yesterday’s forwarding report, the IO said Sadrul was in Rajuk office in 2006, while giving approval for the extension -- 20th, 21st and 22nd floors -- of FR Tower, which was not legal.
Moreover, FR Tower authorities were given approval by Sadrul to mortgage the three floors.
Sadrul should be confined in jail until the investigation is complete, he argued. If he gets bail in the case, he will damage evidence of the case and threaten witnesses, the IO added.
Meanwhile, defense lawyer M Khairuzzaman submitted a petition saying his client was implicated in the case falsely, adding that higher authorities had given approval to the FR Tower authorities for extension.
Earlier on Monday night, a team of ACC arrested Sadrul from Banani Rajuk quarter, for his alleged involvement with the incident.
On March 27, FR Tower in the capital’s Banani caught fire, that left 25 people killed and 73 injured.
On June 25, ACC filed two cases against 23 people for their alleged involvement in illegally extending the building.
The accused include a former chairman of Rajuk, chairman of Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd, and several government officials.
The other accused are: SMHI Faruque, owner of the land on which FR Tower is built; Liakat Ali Khan Mukul, chairman of Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd, the housing company that extended the building illegally; and Tasvirul Islam, one of the owners of FR Tower.
In an ACC enquiry, it was discovered that the 23-storey FR Tower had no fire alarm, had narrow exit points or staircases, blocked fire exits and other issues.
Besides, although the authorities had permission for a 15-storey building, it was illegally turned into 23-storeys.
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