Police have arrested two of the owners of Banani’s fire-ravaged FR Tower, BNP leader Tasvir Ul Islam and engineer SMHI Faruk.
Faruk owns the land on which FR Tower has been erected while Tasvir is the president of the building's management committee.
Tasvir was arrested at his Baridhara residence around 10:30pm on Saturday, said Shahjahan Saju, the additional deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Faruk was arrested at Bashundhara Residential Area at around 1:45am on Sunday, said Moshiur Rahman, the deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police
At least 26 people were killed and 50 people were injured in the blaze that broke out in the 23-floor office bloc on Thursday, reports bdnews24.
According to the fire service, the 23-floor FR Tower lacked adequate fire safety measures. There were also allegations that the high-rise was constructed in violation of the building code.
On Saturday, a case was filed with the Banani Police Station over the devastating fire, said Asaduzzaman Mia, the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Tasvir, a member of the BNP’s central committee and the president of the party’s Kurigram wing, is the managing director and CEO of Quasem Industries Limited.
The firm has its offices on the 21st and 22nd floors of FR Tower in Banani’s Kamal Ataturk Avenue.
Real estate company Rupayan erected the tower on a land owned by engineer SMHI Faruk. The building with the holding no. 32 became operational in 2007.
The ownership of the building was jointly held by the land owner and the developer. Hence, it was named Faruk Rupayan Tower, or FR Tower in short.
Rupayan subsequently sold different units that were under their ownership. A total of 24 owners, including Faruk and Tasvir, own units in the 23-floor building. They have rented out different floors to different organisations.
Tasvir Ul Islam contested for the Kurigram-3 (Ulipur) seat as the BNP candidate in the 11th national elections and lost.
He joined politics in 2006. Tasvir was the younger brother of late AKM Maidul Islam, a founding member of the BNP.
Maidul was elected six times as an MP from the Kurigram-3 constituency and was a member of the cabinet during the rules of Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad. He was an elected member of parliament of the Jatiya Party in the 10th national elections.
Highlighting the lack of proper fire safety measures in the building, Public Works and Housing Minister SM Rezaul Karim said that Thursday's incident was not an accident and described the deaths of victims in the FR Tower fire as 'murders'.
