Police file 2 cases, arrest two over Chittagong landslip deaths

Police have filed two cases and arrested two persons over the death of three children in a landslip in Chittagong.

Five children and a woman died in two separate incidents of landslips in Chittagong on Sunday.

Bayezid Police Station’s SI Nasir Uddin said that case was filed by ASI Abdul Halim against five persons on Sunday night for the deaths at Amin Colony.

Those sued by the police are Mohammad Shahabuddin, Mohammad Mohiuddin, Mohammad Russel, Jainul Abedin and Mohammad Sohel.

Shahabuddin and Abedin were picked up from the area after the case was filed, the police official added.

“They built the shanties by cutting into the hill. They have been accused of causing death by negligence.”

Bibi Mariam, 18 months, ‘Salma’, 5, and Arafat Hossain Farid, 12, all children of mechanic Mohammed Shahjahan, were buried alive in the landslide on the shanties called Amin Colony in the foothills at Bayazid Tank around 2am on Sunday.

The colony is an illegal settlement resulting from encroachment on the hills.

On that very night, Mariam Begum, 29, her daughter Suraiya Akhter, 2 and another girl Anthi Nur, 5, were buried alive at Pora Colony in Lalkhan Bazar's Motijhorna area, officials said.

Chittagong's additional commissioner Tahmilur Rahman told bdnews24.com that these three were killed when their house was hit by the landslip and its walls came crashing down around 2am.

Khulshi police SI Sukanta Chakravarty said SI Rasel Mahmud filed the case against Khokan Mia, 40, the owner of the land on which the house was built.

Mia is accused of causing death through negligence.

A total of 127 people residing in similar settlements had died during the deadly landslips in the hills of Chittagong after heavy rains in June 2007.

The district administration has been launching eviction drives every year in the hills ahead of monsoon. Sunday's landslip occured when an eviction drive was on.