Police filed charges against 13, including the owners, over the fire at Tazreen Fashions Limited on Sunday, a year after over a hundred workers were burned alive in the factory.
Investigation officer, CID Inspector AKS Mohosin-uz Zaman Khan, filed the charges at the court of Dhaka senior Chief Judicial Magistrate Washim Sheikh in the morning.
Delwar Hossain, the managing director of Tazreen, his wife Mahmuda Akhter, the director, and factory Manager Abdur Razzaq were among the 13 found guilty in primary reports.
The charge-sheet said the accused 13 did not allow workers to get out of the factory dismissing the fire alarm as drill procedures, the court's Additional Public Prosecutor Anwarul Kabir Babul told the Dhaka Tribune.
The state prosecution has called for 111 witnesses for the case. The pre-fixed hearing date for this case has been set to December 31.
On November 24, 2012, a fire at the Tazreen Fashions in Nischintapur, Ashulia claimed the lives of 111 workers and injured 104 others, the charge-sheet said.
Ashulia police Sub Inspector had filed a culpable homicide case on the next day. It was after a year that the charge-sheet of this case was filed at the court.
Among the 13 accused, the six top brass, including the owners, are currently on the run. One is in custody and the others are out in bail. Three were relieved of charges.
The six absconding are: Chairman Mahmuda, MD Delwar Hossain, Manager Razzaq, Quality Manager Shahiduzzaman Dulal, Engineer M Mahabubul Morshed and Production Manager Mobarak Hossain Manju.
The remaining seven are: Admin Officer Dulal, Security in-Charge Anisur Rahman, Security Supervisor Al-Amin, Store in-Charge Hamidul Islam Lavlu and Al-Amin, Loader Shamim Mia and security guard Rana, alias Anwarul.
All the seven were arrested, but now only Anisur Rahman is in jail. The rest are out on bail.
Charge-sheet said evidence could not be traced to tie ex-Chairman (Tazreen) Abdul Kuddus, APM Sohel Rana and Cutting Master Sujan Hawladar to the case.
The fire at Tazreen raised a wave of concern throughout the national and international community over factory building standards in Bangladesh.
Then on April 24 this year, the multi-storeyed Rana Plaza, located in Savar, caved in killing over a thousand garment workers and injuring almost double others.