Fire At Hashem Foods: Factory owner, his sons not charged
The Criminal Investigation Department of police has submitted the charge sheet in the murder case filed over the July 2021 fire at Hashem Foods Ltd in Narayanganj, which killed 54 people, dropping the names of the company owner and his four sons.
Abul Hashem, the owner of the food processing company, and his sons were not named in the charge sheet as the investigating officer did not find any evidence of their involvement in the incident, according to the charge sheet.
Hashem was the prime accused in the case.
Inspector Moksedur Rahman, the investigating officer of the case, filed the 13-page charge sheet before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court around 5:00pm Sunday, more than two years after the blaze.
Hashem's four sons are Hasib bin Hashem, Tarek Ibrahim, Tawsheef Ibrahim, and Tanjeem Ibrahim.
Contacted, Moksedur said three other IOs had probed the case before him and that he prepared the charge sheet based on their findings.
"As the allegations against the owner and his four sons were not found to be true, their names have been left out," he said.
Six people were named as accused in the charge sheet. They are company Chief Executive Officer Shahan Shah Azad, Deputy General Manager Mamunur Rashid, Administrative Officer Md Salauddin, Chief Engineer (mechanical and electrical) Omar Farooq, and Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments inspectors Nesar Uddin and Saikat Mahmud.
Expressing frustration over dropping the prime accused from the charge sheet, victims' family members said it was unacceptable.
"We have heard about not naming the prime accused in the charge sheet. We don't accept it," said rickshaw puller Fazlur Rahman, father of late Mohammad Hasnaine, 12, who died in the blaze.
He said the company owner and his sons must be punished as "they are guilty".
Fazlur said they would file a fresh case, if necessary.
Two days after the incident, Inspector Nazim Uddin Mazumder, then in-charge of Bhulta Police Outpost under Rupganj Police Station, had filed the murder case.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, he said he knew nothing about the charge sheet as the IO did not inform him about it.
"The factory owner can't avoid his responsibility. I will take necessary steps after going through the charge sheet," said Nazim Uddin, who is currently working for the police's Special Branch in Chattogram.
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