Gulistan blast: Building owner among 3 shown arrested

Three people, including the owner of the 7-storey building at Gulistan where a deadly explosion on Tuesday left 21 people dead, were shown arrested in a case over the blast.

Those shown arrested are Wahidur Rahman, 46, owner of the building, Matiur Rahman, 36, brother of Wahidur and Motaleb Mintu, 36.

“The two brothers were detained from Fulbaraia area in the capital on Tuesday and Motaleb was detained from DMCH area on the same night for interrogation. As the building owner had negligence that led to the blast they were shown arrested, said Additional Commissioner (Crime) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Dr. K. Mohiuddin.

Police filed an unnatural death case following the blast incident.

Additional Commissioner (DB) of DMP Harun-Ur-Rashid said, “As per data available, Queen’s sanitary market’s basement is the origin of the explosion. Had the basement been spacious enough as per Rajuks’s rules , it would have been easier to fix any problem immediately.”

But the building owners once used the basement as a kitchen and then built an air conditioned construction materials’ market without removing the kitchen’s gas line properly, leaving the workers’ and customers’ lives at risk, the DMP official added.

Earlier, The massive explosion near a BRTC bus counter in the capital’s Gulistan area has so far left 21 people dead.

A four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to investigate the explosion.

The committee was asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell.