A Dhaka court on Tuesday accepted charges against five accused, including Syed Md Hossain Imam Faruq, land owner of the FR Tower, in a case filed over tower design forgery.
Judge KM Imrul Kayes of the Dhaka Senior Special Judge accepted the charge-sheet.
The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of former Chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) Humayun Khadem as he did not appear before the court during the hearing in the case.
The court directed the officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station to submit a report by March 5 on execution of the arrest warrant.
Four other accused are Liakat Ali Khan Mukul, chairman of Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd; Md Humayun Khadem, former Rajuk chairman; Md Saidur Rahman, former chief engineer of Rajuk, and Syed Makbul Ahmed, former authorised officer of Rajuk. They were present at the court.
On October 29, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Abu Bakar Siddique submitted the charge-sheet against five accused to the court.
The FR Tower in city’s Banani area caught fire on March 27 last that left 25 people dead and 73 others injured.
The national anti-graft body had filed two cases against 23 people for their alleged involvement in illegally extending Banani’s FR Tower beyond the permitted number of floors.
During investigation, the ACC found that the 23-storey FR Tower had no fire alarm while it has narrow exit points and staircases and the fire exits are blocked.
The authorities had legally obtained permission for a 15-storey building but they made the FR Tower a 23-storey one over time.
UNB/MUS
