National

13 indicted in Tazreen factory fire case

A court here on Thursday indicted 13 people, including Tazreen Fashions managing director and owner Delwar Hossain, in a case filed over the devastating fire in the garment factory in Ashulia in 2012 claiming over 100 lives.After rejecting all the discharge petitions, Judge of the District and Session’s Court SM Kuddus Jaman framed charges against them.The court also fixed October 1 for starting the trial of the case.Meanwhile, another fugitive accused, Engineer M Mahbubul Morshed, surrendered before the court today and sought bail by his lawyer.The court granted him bail after a hearing.The court also transferred all the activities of the cases to the First Additional District and Session’s Judge Court for the trial.Delwar, his wife and Tazreen Chairman Mahmuda Akhter and six others are now on bail in the case while five other accused remained absconding.The 11 other accused are factory manager Abdur Razzak, quality control manager Shahiduzzaman Dulal, production manager Mobarak Hossain Monju, manager (admin) Md Dulal Uddin, engineer Mahbubul Morshed, store-in-charge Hamidul Islam and Md Al Amin, security in-charge Md Al Amin and Anisur Rahman, security guard Md Rana, and loader Shamim Mia.At least 112 people were killed and over 200 others suffered injuries in the devastating fire that raged through the Tazreen Fashions at Nischintapur in Ashulia on the outskirts of capital Dhaka on November 24, 2012.On November 25, a case was filed with Ashulia Police Station in connection with the fire. Later, the case was transferred to Criminal Investigation Department (CID).On December 22 last year, police submitted a chargesheet against 13 people, including the chairman and the managing director of the garment factory. -UNB