Deadly blast at BIAM Foundation was planned: PBI

The incident was orchestrated by BIAM's administrative officer Zahidul Islam to destroy important documents, police say

The explosion that killed two people at the Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management (BIAM) Foundation in Dhaka five months ago was a "premeditated" incident, according to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).

"The incident was orchestrated by BIAM's administrative officer Zahidul Islam to destroy important documents. The two people who were used as pawns died in the ensuing fire," PBI Superintendent of Police Abdur Rahman said at a media briefing on Monday.

He added that the mystery behind the incident was unravelled after the arrest of Zahidul and his accomplice Ashraful Islam.

The two were arrested on Jul 25 in Dhaka and Kurigram. Ashraful is a dismissed member of the army.

Explaining the process behind Ashraful's identification, PBI officer Rahman said: “A masked man was caught in the CCTV footage. That was Ashraful. We used AI to generate an unmasked version of the image. Several images were produced and after examining some of them, Ashraful was identified.”

He added that Ashraful used to frequently visit Zahidul at BIAM. In the process, he developed good relations with many people at the office.

On the night of Feb 27, an explosion occurred in room No. 504 of the BIAM Foundation building in Eskaton. The room was being used as the office of the BCS (Administration) Multipurpose Cooperative Society. The fire destroyed society documents, furniture, an air-conditioner, and other items.

Office assistant Md Abdul Malek Khan, 40, died at the scene. Md Faruk Mir, 34, the general secretary’s driver, died five days later while undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Although the Fire Service initially described the incident as an "accident caused by an AC explosion", the BCS cooperative society claimed it was an act of “sabotage”.

Md Moshiur Rahman, the society’s general secretary, later filed a case with Hatirjheel Police Station against unnamed suspects.

At the time, investigators said they suspected a young man seen in CCTV footage and that identifying and apprehending him would shed light on the situation.

The case was later handed over to the PBI.

Citing details uncovered during the investigation, Rahman said that office assistant Malek and driver Faruk were instructed to "pour petrol and set a fire" to burn documents in the society's office. Ashraful, meanwhile, was told to switch off the electricity.

"The investigation has preliminarily confirmed that the explosion occurred before Malek and Faruk could leave the room after setting the fire, resulting in their deaths."

“Zahidul entered into an agreement with Ashraful for Tk 1-1.2 million and the plan was devised jointly by the two of them, along with the office assistant and driver.”

The PBI official said both arrestees have given confessional statements in court. “Until his arrest, Zahidul remained in his job, and whenever we visited BIAM for our investigation, he would relay all information to Ashraful.”

To avoid raising suspicion, the two used foreign WhatsApp numbers -- Ashraful used a Singaporean number while Zahidul used a US number, according to Rahman.