Police formally charge 29 in court over deadly Narayanganj mosque blast

The police have formally charged in court 29 people, including the president of a Narayanganj mosque’s governing body, over the deadly blast at the place of worship.

Senior Correspondentand Narayanganj Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 31 Dec 2020, 09:59 PM
Updated : 31 Dec 2020, 09:59 PM

Investigator Babul Mia, an inspector of the police’s Criminal Investigation Department, submitted the chargesheet to a Narayanganj court on Thursday after about three months of investigation.

Preparations are under way to file a supplementary chargesheet against another eight people. The police needed permission to charge these eight people because they are government officials, said Nasir Uddin Ahmed, a special superintendent of police at the CID.

More than 50 Muslim worshippers sustained burn injuries when six air conditioners at a mosque in Narayanganj’s Fatullah exploded on Sep 4 during Isha prayers. As many as 34 of the critically injured people died after being hospitalised. Only four victims survived the blast.

The fire service personnel later confirmed that gas accumulated inside the mosque from pipeline leaks caused the blast triggered by an electric short-circuit.

Shocking revelations of irregularities came up in investigations that found the state utility Titas did not cut off an abandoned line while the mosque authorities extended the building illegally on to the line. Power authorities failed to monitor a fact that the mosque had an additional connection illegally which caused the short-circuit.

The police arrested 12 people and all of them secured bail. Besides mosque committee President Abdul Gafur Mia, the arrestees included engineers of Titas and electricians of Dhaka Power Distribution Company.