Gulistan blast: 3 including 2 building owners sent to jail
A Dhaka court on Sunday sent to jail three people, including two owners of the building in the capital's Gulistan area where a recent explosion killed 23 people.
The three accused are building owners Wahidur Rahman, his brother Motiur Rahman and sanitary hardware equipment trader Mintu.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam passed the order as police produced the three before the court after the end of a two-day remand in the case.
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Police also pleaded to keep them behind the bars till the end of the probe.
The same court placed them on a two-day remand each on 9 March.
The horrific blast took place in the basement of the Cafe Queen Tower building around 4.50pm on 7 March, leaving 10 people killed on the spot and many injured.
Earlier, downplaying the chances of any sabotage, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) identified the accumulation of biogas in septic tanks or a leak from an abandoned but not fully-closed Titas Gas line as two possible reasons for the explosion. However, the investigating agency could not come up with any concrete or solid evidence.
However, DB officials said the owners of the explosion-hit building violated the building codes, putting people at risk.
In the press briefing, DMP Additional Commissioner Harun-or-Rashid said DB police reviewed the history of the building and gave their observations on the matter following the initial investigation.
He said that the explosion originated on the first floor of the building where there was a restaurant named "Queen Café" and its kitchen was in the basement.
Once the spaces on the basement and the first floor were leased, large gas lines were fed into the basement for the kitchen, said Harun.
The DMP also made some observations regarding the cause of the blast. The kitchen in the basement had a commercial gas connection. Although the connection was cut, domestic gas connections of other buildings were operational. As a result, any connection of Titas Gas in the basement may leak, and an explosion can occur through a spark near the accumulated gas.
