Delwar Hossain, managing director of Tazreen Fashions and the main accused of the case related to the 2012 deadly factory fire, has applied to the lower court for his passport.

Delwar along with his wife Mahmuda Akter, chairperson of Tazreen, applied for their passports to the Additional Sessions Judge Court-1 in Dhaka on November 7 to visit their daughter studying abroad, sources at the public prosecutor’s (PP) office told The Daily Star.

Asked, Delwar said his passport was confiscated on April 12, 2013 by immigration officials, when he tried to travel to India for a business meeting.

Eight months later, police pressed homicide charges against him, his wife and 11 other people, in the case.

Sources at the PP’s office said, the court asked the applicants to submit a number of documents along with passports of their two children who reside in the country, and ID of the educational institute where the daughter, living abroad, studies.

The court asked for these documents to ensure that he cannot leave the country with his whole family, the source added, confirming Delwar has not submitted all the documents asked by the court yet. Once the court receives all the documents, it will decide if the passports can be returned.

Talking to the Daily Star yesterday, Delwar said he first applied for the passports about seven to eight months back but the application was rejected.

“My wife needed to go abroad for treatment and my daughter was going abroad for studies,” he said, adding that his elder daughter studies in the USA.

He confirmed that the court has attached some conditions to return his and Mahmuda’s passports, but they have not been able to submit all the necessary documents yet.

He hopes that he may get a decision in this regard on the next hearing date of the case on January 30, 2020.

“This case is not one where I would be given punishments like life sentence or death penalty; then why would I try to escape from the country?” he said, adding “Besides, at my age, I will not even get any job in a foreign country.”

Delwar said the case is being delayed because of absence of witnesses.

He also said he has been trying to come back to the business again with catering work orders under subcontracting basis.

However, he has been facing challenges in reviving his business, as banks are not assisting him after the fire incident. “Moreover, I could not withdraw Tk 18.26 crore from the insurance company yet,” Delwar claimed.

Delwar has also been trying to sell his property and building floors to pay back loans of more than Tk 108 crore.