A Dhaka court yesterday set July 8 for a hearing on whether it would accept the charge sheets in two cases filed over the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse that killed over 1,135 people.
Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Shahinur Rahman set the date after scrutiniying case documents.
He also issued a show-cause notice to Kashimpur Jail Super for not producing prime accused Sohel Rana, owner of the collapsed building, before the court during the hearing. However, other accused in the cases appeared in the court.
On June 1, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a charge sheet to the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Dhaka accusing 41 people, including government officials, elected representatives and Awami League leaders, of killing an estimated 1,137 people.
The CID submitted another charge sheet under the Building Construction Act 1952 accusing 18 people - 17 from among the 41 named in the murder case and one Mahbub Alam – for violating construction rules that led to the collapse of the building.
Most of those who died in the April 24 collapse were workers of five garment factories that were housed in the multistoried building. Around 2,500 others were injured while many families of labourers working at the building claimed that their loved ones were still unaccounted for.
Two cases were filed over the incident, which was the country’s deadliest industrial accident.
Police have so far arrested 22 people, including Sohel Rana, government engineers, local politicians and top executives of the factories, in connection with the cases.
Of those arrested, all except two, including Rana, were granted bail by the High Court.
