Gulistan building explosion: Shop owner ‘picked up by DB police’

The Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has allegedly picked up the owner of a shop that collapsed during an explosion in a building near a BRTC bus counter in the capital's Gulistan on Tuesday.

The detainee is Abdul Motalib Mintu, the owner of ‘Bangladesh Sanitary’.

Mintu’s brother-in-law, Abul Khayer, told reporters on Wednesday that Mintu was picked up from Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) burn unit at around 3:00 am, reports UNB.

“He went to the Dhaka Medical College hospital in search of his shop employees. His manager, Swapan, is yet to be found. Two employees were admitted to the hospital,” Abulr Khayer told reporters on DMCH premises.

Meanwhile a DB official, who did not wish to be named, said Mintu was picked up by a team of DB's Lalbagh division. He is currently at the DB office in the capital’s Mintu Road.

“The explosion took place under his shop in the basement. That's why he's being questioned,” he told UNB.

At least 19 people were killed and over 100 others injured in a massive explosion in a 5-storey building near a BRTC bus counter at Siddique Bazar in Gulistan area of the capital on Tuesday .

Among the injured, 11 people have been undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

A four-member probe body headed by Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director of Fire Service and Civil Defense (Operation and maintenance), has been formed to investigate the incident.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within five working days, said Shahjahan Sikder, Deputy Additional Director of Fire service and Civil Defense headquarters media cell.