A probe committee found on Sunday the fire-hit FR Tower at Banani in the city risky as cracks developed in beams and slabs of some floors.
The six-member probe committee of the city development authority RAJUK inspected the high-rise building on the day three days after the fire incident that killed at least 26 people and left nearly one hundred others injured.
A lower court in Dhaka allowed the police on the day to take two owners of the building on a seven-day remand in a case filed over the devastating fire incident.
Police earlier arrested the two-land owner Engineer HMHI Faruque and the building's management committee president Tasvirul Islam.
Detective branch (DB) of police nabbed Mr Faruque from Bashundhara Residential Area in the city at around 1:30am on Sunday.
Tasvirul was arrested from his Baridhara residence at around 10:30pm on Saturday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner Moshiur Rahman told reporters.
They were arrested in the case filed by the police with the Banani Police Station on Saturday.
The case was filed against land owner Faruque, land developer Rupayan Group chairman Liakat Ali Khan, Quasem Drycells Ltd managing director and CEO Tasvirul and some other unknown persons, according to the DMP's official news portal.
Tasvirul is also a member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) central committee and president of Kurigram unit of BNP.
He contested the 11th national election on his party's ticket for Kurigram-3 constituency.
His company owns the upper three floors of the FR Tower which were allegedly constructed illegally as the building was supposed to be an 18-storey one as per plan passed by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakha (RAJUK).
However, after coming out of the building, RAJUK probe committee member and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) teacher Mehedy Ahmed Ansari said the building was quite risky as cracks were found in the slabs and beams of some floors.
He said, "It will take 150 days to complete the full investigation and we will be able to say then whether the building can be used again."
But currently it was not safe to run any office, he said.
Talking about origin of the fire, Mr Ansari also said, "Primarily we are suspecting that the fire started from the south-western part of the building's seventh floor."
Three other committees are also probing the tragic fire incident. The committees have been formed by the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry and Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
