Was the fire at the BIAM building in Dhaka’s Eskaton sabotage, or an accident?

A police official from the Tejgaon Division says a man who may have been involved in the fire has been found in CCTV footage

Police have yet to determine whether the fire at the Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management, or BIAM, Foundation building in Dhaka's Eskaton, which sparked from an explosion in an office room, was an accident or an act of sabotage.

After the incident, police and the Fire Service initially presented the incident as an accident caused by an "air conditioner explosion" but the BCS (Administration) Welfare Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited claimed that it was an “act of sabotage”.

The incident occurred late on the night of Feb 27.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, claimed that a “bomb attack” had taken place there in a statement issued a day after the incident on Feb 28.

However, the party later withdrew the statement.

Police, who are investigating the incident, say the matter is expected to be cleared up upon the questioning of a man seen in CCTV footage.

Five days after the accident, a wounded driver - 34-year-old Faruk Mir - succumbed to his injuries at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon, taking the toll in the incident to two.

Earlier, an office assistant at the public administration ministry, 40-year-old Abdul Malek Khan, was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s emergency department with injuries around 7am on Feb 28. Doctors declared him dead.

The BIAM facility houses various offices as well as auditoriums and accommodation for different levels of officials.

The fire broke out in an office room of the BCS (Administration) Welfare Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd on the fifth floor of the 10-storey building.

On that day, Fire Service duty officer Khaleda Yasmin said the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in the air conditioner.

However, the BCS welfare cooperative society issued a statement claiming the incident as sabotage the following day.

The statement was accompanied by a still frame showing a suspect obtained from the CCTV footage.

The CCTV footage shows the man - approximately 25-30 years old, wearing a head cap, face mask, socks, a pair of sandals on his feet and hand gloves - emerging from the western side of the BIAM building playground and going up through the staircases to the fifth floor and switching off the CCTV cameras on that floor, the statement read.

"A short time later, there was a loud explosion in Room 504 and huge flames were seen. Moments later, the man quickly climbed down the stairs and entered an open room on the third floor, where he stayed for about an hour before leaving the BIAM building safely.”

"An observation of the situation shows it was an act of planned sabotage.”

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Tejgaon Division) Md Ibne Mizan told bdnews24.com: “We are investigating the matter following the CCTV footage. A suspect is seen in the footage. No one stopped him from going up. He is believed to be a regular visitor to the building.

“We will be able to learn the truth if the man is arrested. Then it will be clear whether it’s an accident or sabotage.”

Asked if the driver Faruk, the only witness to the incident, had managed to give his statement before he died, Hatirjheel Police Station chief Md Raju said: "We are working on the matter."