A Dhaka court on Friday sent three garment factories owners to jail at the end of their remand in connection with cases filed over the collapse of Rana Plaza that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Wasim Sheikh passed the order as police did not submit a further remand plea.
On April 27, the chairman of New Wave Bottoms and New Wave Styles, Bazlus Samad Adnan, and the managing director of New Wave Bottoms, Mahmudur Rahman Tapash, were remanded for 12 days. Aminul Islam, the chairman of Phantom Apparels and Phantom Tack, was put on 11 days' remand on April 28.
In the forwarding report, the investigating officer said the information obtained from the accused was being verified. The accused needed to be confined in jail until the investigation was complete.
The eight-storey building that collapsed on April 24 housed five garment factories, a shopping complex and a branch of Brac Bank.
Md Anisur Rahman, who owns Ether Textiles, was remanded for 12 days on April 29.
Counsel for the three accused, AKM Akhter Hossain, filed a bail petition saying that the accused were not guilty. He claimed the factories were declared shut once the cracks were discovered, but his clients were forced by the building owner Sohel Rana and the UNO to keep the factories open. According to their assurance, the accused kept the factories open and asked the labours to go to work.
The magistrate rejected the bail plea.
Savar police station’s sub-inspector Wali Ashraf Khan filed a case against Rana, his father Abdul Khalek and the owners of the garment factories housed in Rana Plaza for involuntarily causing loss of lives and damages. Authorised officer of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) Md Helal Uddin filled another case under the Building Construction Act 1952.
