Police file chargesheet against 42 persons including Sohel Rana for the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse

Police have charged in court Rana Plaza complex owner Sohel Rana and 40 others with murder for the 2013 collapse that left more than 1,100 people dead.

Chargesheet in the two cases – one for the deaths and the other for breach of building rules – were submitted to the court on Monday after over two years of the incident.

Investigating officer Bijay Krishna Kar told bdnews24.com Rana and 18 others were accused of violating the building code.

The chargesheets were submitted to the court police inspector’s office at the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court.

On Apr 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Savar, which housed five garment factories, came crushing down.

Official figures put the death toll at 1,135 – mostly workers of the readymade clothing factories.

At least 2,458 people were rescued from the rubble.

Sohel Rana (in the middle) after arrest

The collapsed Rana Plaza

Savar police filed a case over ‘death due to negligence’, accusing 21 including Rana. But police brought charges against 41, accusing them of murder.

The case for flouting building code was filed with the Savar police by the city development authority, RAJUK.

All of the accused in the two cases, barring four including Rana, are out on bail, according to the case documents.

One of the largest industrial accidents in history put focus on the poor working condition at factories in Bangladesh, the second largest exporter of RMG products after China.

But the sector that accounts for over 80 percent of foreign income is plagued by allegations of low-pay and frequent accidents.

The US scrapped duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods after the Rana Plaza collapse to “push Bangladesh improve the situation”.