The Bashundhara Group yesterday lodged a general diary (GD) with the Tejgaon Police Station against eight people, including editors and publishers of the daily Prothom Alo and daily Samakal, and Transcom Group Chairman Latifur Rahman, on charge of arson.

Chairman of the group Ahmed Akbar Sobhan tried all day to file a false case, alleging that the eight set fire to the Bashundhara shopping mall. But police refused to record the complaint as a case because the allegations were not found authentic.

Some officials of the group went to the police station with the written complaint in the morning. Having been failed to record it as a case, they communicated with government high-ups to put pressure on the police, sources said. As no one from the government agreed to influence the matter, top police officials discussed the matter and decided to record the written complaint of TIM Latiful Hossain, an adviser (technical) of the group, as general diary (GD-894, date 14.10.2009).

The eight people accused in the arson are Prothom Alo Editor and Publisher Matiur Rahman, Samakal Publisher AK Azad, editor of the daily Golam Sarwar, Latifur Rahman, Motiur Rahman’s son Mahmudur Rahman Sasha, former Bashundhara officials Col (retd) Ahsanullah, Syed Alim Al Raji and Lashkar Lutfar Rahman.

Following is the full text of the GD, translated from Bangla by The Daily Star:

To
Officer-in-Charge
Tejgaon Police Station
DMP, Dhaka

Subject: Ejahar

Sir,
With due respect, I, TIM Latiful Hossain, S/o Late Md Tofazzal Hossain, adviser (technical) to the chairman, BG & in charge, BCDL, Bashundhara City, Panthapath, Police Station: Tejgaon, Dhaka, is the signatory.

I hereby, appearing before your police station, lodge a complaint that a devastating fire broke out on the 18th floor of the Bashundhara City Tower on Friday March 13, 2009 around 1:40pm. Seven of my hard-working officials and employees were burned alive and five of the floors were completely gutted which incurred a loss of Tk 200 crore.

A general dairy (GD-1071, dated 15.03.09) was lodged with Tejgaon Police Station in this connection.

Bashundhara Group formed a six-member enquiry committee, including myself, to probe the fire incident. The members of the committee wisely carried out the investigation. Through the probe we found (1) Matiur Rahman, S/o Late Fazlur Rahman alias Fazlu Moktar, Address: 52, Motijheel Commercial Area, PS: Motijheel, Dhaka-1000, (2) Latifur Rahman, S/o Mojibur Rahman, (3) Mahmudur Rahman (Sasha), S/o Matiur Rahman, both of their address: CA Bhaban, 100 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Karwan Bazar, PS: Tejgaon, Dhaka-1215, (4) Golam Sarwar, S/o: unknown, (5) Abul Kalam Azad, S/o: unknown, both their address: 136, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka, (6) Colonel Ahsan Ullah, S/o: unknown, address: House-449/6, Lane-8, DOHS, Baridhara, Dhaka, (7) Syed Alim Al Razi (42), S/o Late Sayedur Rahman, address: North Dholia, PS & District: Feni, present address: House-29, Road-9, Sector-4, Uttara, Dhaka, (8) Lashkar Lutfar Rahman, S/o Late Abdul Wahed Lashkar, address: Latim Shar, PS & District: Jhalakathi were involved in the arson. We found out through investigation that the accused on several occasions wanted benefits from our company in various ways.

The first three accused failed to obtain a Tk-3-crore illumination job at Bashundhara City for Tk 27 crore. They on different occasions also failed to get newsprint worth Tk 10 crore from Bashundhara Newsprint Factory by blackmailing.

Accused number four, around 10:50am on February 17, 2009 came to the Bashundhara office and proposed for publishing advertisement in different newspapers. Since we did not agree to his proposal he in collaboration with other accused tried to harm the company. Accused number five, came to our office and demanded a flat at the EW,PD Baridhara project for free. Accused number six, seven, and eight, were terminated from Bashundhara Group for their corruption and irregularities. Being terminated, accused number six and seven in a bid to destroy the evidence of their misdeeds collaborated with accused number one, two, three, four and five, and attempted to harm the company in various ways.

After their failed attempts, they engaged themselves in a conspiracy to destroy Bashundhara Group completely. They in a well-planned way set fire to the Bashundhara City Tower portion around 1:40pm on March 13, 2009, which left seven of our innocent officials and employees dead and 13 others seriously injured. Of them, five are leading disabled lives.

The filing of the Ejahar was delayed due to extended investigation and discussions with higher authorities about the matter.

Therefore, I request you to kindly take legal actions against the accused through filing the Ejahar with your police station.

Sincerely yours
TIM Latiful Hossain
S/o Late Md Tofazzal Hossain
Adviser (technical) to the chairman, BG & in charge, BCDL, Bashundhara City, Panthapath, PS: Tejgaon, Dhaka.