FR Tower: Police arrest 2 'owners'
SMHI Faruque, the land owner of FR Tower, and Tasvir Ul Islam, one of the owners of the high rise, have been arrested in the capital, police said.
A team of Detective Branch arrested Faruque, 65, an engineer, from Bashundhara area around 1:15am today, DB (north) Additional Deputy Commissioner Golam Saqlain, told The Daily Star. He was being taken to the DB office as of filing this report at 1:45am.
Earlier, police picked up Tasvir from his Baridhara home around 10:45pm.
Tasvir is the managing director and chief executive officer of Quasem Drycells Ltd, which had its offices in the building, police said. He is also the president of Kurigram BNP.
The duo was picked up in connection with a case filed with Banani Police Station over Thursday's fire disaster at the tower that killed 26 people and left some 70 injured, police said.
Milton Dutt, a sub-inspector and also the in-charge of Banani Police outpost, filed the case against land owner Faruque, Liakat Ali Khan alias Mukul, 57, chairman of Rupayan Group, the builder company, and Tasvir, 62, and others who were part of the building management committee and some unknown persons, according to DMP's official news portal.
Shahjahan Saju, ADC of DB (North) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said Tasvir claimed that he was the owner of the top three floors of the 22-storey building.
The FR Tower had no permission for its top four floors and there was no fire-protected staircase in the 22-storey building that housed dozens of offices, Rajuk and fire service officials confirmed.
In 1996, its owner took permission to construct an 18-storey building, Abdur Rahman, chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), told The Daily Star on Thursday.
“But on February 23, 2005, they submitted a photocopy of the building's design showing 22 floors. But there was no document to support it,” he said.
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