Restaurant owner arrested over deaths of workers in Chawkbazar fire

A case has been filed against the restaurant owner on charges of death due to negligence, police say

Police have arrested Fakharuddin, the owner of a restaurant in Chawkbazar’s Debidas Ghat Lane, over the deaths of six workers after a deadly fire engulfed the building in the area that also houses a plastics factory. The victims were workers of the restaurant.

Ten firefighting units doused the flames after a two-hour effort. They rushed to the scene after the fire erupted in the four-storey building in Chawkbazar’s Kamalbagh on Monday.

Fire Service personnel recovered the bodies of six people from a wooden shelf built for the workers underneath the roof of ‘Barishal Restaurant’ on the ground floor of the building. The workers used to sleep on the shelf, Chawkbazar Police Station chief Abdul Qayyum said.

“Fakharuddin, the owner of Barishal Restaurant, was arrested on Tuesday. A case has been filed against him over negligence,” said Elias Hossain, an assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.