Chawkbazar police yesterday pressed charges against eight people, including two owners of Wahed Mansion -- from where a deadly fire originated in February 2019 and killed 71 people.

The accused are: owners of Wahed Mansion located at Churihatta in Old Dhaka-- Mohammad Hasan Sultan and Mohammad Hossain Sultan alias Sohel, owners of chemical warehouse Imtiaz Ahmed, Mozammel Iqbal, Mozaffar Uddin, Mohammad Jawad Atiq, Mohammad Nabil and Kashif.

Of them, the two brothers were arrested following the incident and later they were released on bail while the rest secured bail from different courts on different dates.

Officer-in-charge of Chawkbazar Police Station Inspector Abdul Kayum, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.

In the charge sheet, the IO said the primary charges brought against the accused is negligence which led to deaths of so many victims and injure scores of people. The allegation was proven and they should be brought under trial.

The charge sheet will be placed before the court on March 23.

The devastating fire broke out at Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar area around 10:40pm on February 20, 2019.

Thirty-seven firefighting units brought the inferno under control after working tirelessly for 14 hours.

Autopsies found that all the victims were burned alive.

The following day, Md Asif, a resident of Chawkbazar, filed the case in connection with massive damages including the loss of many lives due to negligence.