Plot owner arrested for FR Tower design forgery

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday arrested land owner of FR Tower SMHI Faruque in a case filed over the forgery in the design of the Banani's ill-fated building, reports UNB.

ACC public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said an ACC team, led by its deputy director Abu Bakar Siddique, arrested Faruque from Gulshan area.

The commission arrested another owner Tasvir Ul Islam, also chairman of Quasem Industries Ltd , from Segunbagicha area on Sunday.

Tasvir, also president of Kurigram district unit BNP, embezzled Tk 56.5 million (Tk 5.65 crore) from GSP Finance Company (Bangladesh) Ltd through loan, said the ACC.

The national anti-graft body earlier arrested assistant director of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) Shah Badrul Alam on 30 July over the design forgery.

It had filed two cases against 23 people for their alleged involvement in illegally extending Banani's FR Tower beyond the permitted number of floors.

The building caught fire on 27 March last that left 25 people dead and 73 others injured.

During investigation, the ACC found that the 23-storey FR Tower had no fire alarm while it has narrow exit points and staircases and the fire exits are blocked.

The authorities had legally obtained permission for a 15-storey building but they made the FR Tower a 23-storey one over time.

The ACC sued 20 and five people respectively in the two cases filed over illegal extension of FR Tower from 16th to 18th and 19th to 23rd floors.

The accused also include Liakat Ali Khan Mukul, chairman of Rupayan Housing Estate Ltd, the housing company that extended the building illegally, Muhammd Shawkat Ali, member of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Syed Nazmul Huda, sub-divisional engineer of Public Works Department (PWD) and Shamsur Rahman, executive engineer of PWD.