Banani fire: Faruque, Tasvirul placed on 7-day remand

A Dhaka court today placed SMHI Faruque, the land owner of FR Tower in Banani, and Tasvirul Islam, one of the owners of the high-rise building, on a seven-day remand each in connection with a case over Thursday's fire disaster.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sadbir Yasir Ahsan Chowdhury placed them on the remand after Md Jalaluddin, inspector of Detective Branch of police and also the investigation officer of the case, produced them before the court seeking ten-day remand each.

Detectives arrested Faruque, 65, an engineer, from Bashundhara area around 1:15am today. Earlier, police picked up Tasvirul from his Baridhara home last night. Tasvirul 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.

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 Tasvirul, 62, and others who were part of the building management committee and some unknown persons, according to DMP's official news portal.

CHART: Deaths in Bangladesh fire incidents 2006-2018

Data source: Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence.  Chart by: Zaid Kalam