Court accepts chargesheet in murder case filed over Rana Plaza collapse

A Dhaka court has issued arrest warrants for 23 fugitives from justice after accepting the chargesheet in a murder case filed over the Rana Plaza building collapse.

More than 1,100 people were killed and around 2,500 others injured when the building in Dhaka’s Savar, which housed several garment factories, collapsed in a heap on Apr 24, 2013.

Inspector Md Asaduzzaman of police’s prosecution wing said Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Al-Amin on Monday fixed Jan 27 as the next date of hearing.

The court directed police stations concerned to report on the execution of the arrest warrants on that day, he told bdnews24.com.

It also ordered the confiscation of the fugitives’ assets.

Savar police had initially filed a case of ‘death due to negligence’, accusing 21 people including the building owner Sohel Rana.

But they later brought charges against 41, accusing all of them of murder.

The city development authority, RAJUK, filed another case against 13 people, including Rana, with Savar police, charging them with flouting Bangladesh National Building Code.

Veteran lawyer Aminul Gani Tito said the case may go in a limbo after going into High Court as the lower court has accepted the chargesheet which names five government officials without approval from the public administration ministry.

The five officials are Abdus Samad, Jamshedur Rahman, Belayet Hossain, Yusuf Ali and Sahidul Islam.

Inspector Asaduzzaman said the public administration ministry was asked to give permission after the chargesheet was submitted, but it told the court that the five were ‘not involved’.

“The court did not find its report believable and that is why it accepted the chargesheet without approval from the ministry,” he added.

Apart from the 23 fugitives, of the 18 others who were named in the chargesheet only Sohel Rana is behind bars. The rest are out on bail.

Investigations had found that the building’s additional construction was illegally done, low-quality materials were used and its plans were faulty.

A Dhaka court on Jul 8 accepted charges in this case and issued arrest warrant for six people running from the law.

Criminal Investigation Department Assistant Superintendent Bijay Krishna Kar filed the chargesheets in both the cases in court on June 1.