Police file 2 cases, arrest 2 over Ctg landslip

Police have filed two cases and arrested two persons over the death of three children in a landslide in Chittagong. Five children and a woman died in two separate incidents of landslips in the port city on Sunday. Bayezid Police Station’s SI Nasir Uddin said a case was filed by ASI Abdul Halim against five persons on Sunday night for the deaths at Amin Colony. Those sued by the police are Mohammad Shahabuddin, Mohammad Mohiuddin, Mohammad Russel, Jainul Abedin and Mohammad Sohel. Shahabuddin and Abedin were picked up from the area after the case was filed, the police official added. “They built the shanties by cutting into the hill. They have been accused of causing death by negligence.” Bibi Mariam, 18 months, ‘Salma’, 5, and Arafat Hossain Farid, 12, all children of mechanic Mohammed Shahjahan, were buried alive in the hillslide on the shanties called Amin Colony in the foothills at Bayazid Tank around 2am on Sunday. Pankaj Barua, sub-inspector of Chittagong Medical College Hospital police camp, said the condition of the four injured persons admitted to the hospital was critical. They were injured in the landslip at Amin Colony which is an illegal settlement resulting from encroachment on the hills.
On that very night, Mariam Begum, 29, her daughter Suraiya Akhter, 2 and another girl Anthi Nur, 5, were buried alive at Pora Colony in Lalkhan Bazar's Motijhorna area, officials said. Chittagong's additional commissioner Tahmilur Rahman said these three were killed when their house was hit by the landslip and its walls came crashing down around 2am. Khulshi police SI Sukanta Chakravarty said SI Rasel Mahmud filed the case against Khokan Mia, 40, the owner of the land on which the house was built. Mia is accused of causing death through negligence. A total of 127 people residing in similar settlements had died during the deadly landslips in the hills of Chittagong after heavy rains in June 2007. The district administration has been launching eviction drives every year in the hills ahead of monsoon. Sunday's landslip occured when an eviction drive was on, according to a news agency.