Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested eight suspended officers and workers of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited in connection with blast at Narayanganj mosque on September 4, which claimed 32 lives so far.
Among the arrestees, four are engineers and the rest are workers, Jisanul Haque, senior assistant superintended of CID, confirmed.
They were arrested from different areas of Fatullah in Narayanganj Sadar upazila this morning, said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) M Mainul Hasan of CID, at a press conference at the Narayanganj office of CID.
"The eight suspended officers and workers of Titas were arrested on basis of evidence of negligence," said the CID official.
The arrestees are: Fatullah Zonal office manager Sirajul Islam, 42, Deputy manager, Mahmudur Rahman Rabbi, 34, assistant engineer SM Hasan Shahriar, 32, assistant engineer Manik Mia, 33, senior supervisor Munibur Rahman Chowdhury, 56, senior development worker Ayub Ali, 58, assistant Hanif Mia, 48, and Ismail Pradhan, 49.
Mainul Hasan also said the arrestees will be shown arrested in the case over the mosque blast and produced before court with five-day remand prayer today.
He said if any negligence of the mosque committee members is found over the blast, they will be arrested.
The explosion happened at Pashchim Talla Baitus Salat Mosque around 8:45pm after Esha prayers on September 4.
Fire officials said the explosion was caused due to an accumulation of leaked gas from an underground Titas Gas pipeline that somehow came in contact with an electric spark.
On September 6, Sub Inspector Humayun Kabir of Fatullah Model Police Station filed a case against unidentified people, alleging negligence resulted in the explosion and casualties.
Titas Gas has suspended eight of its officials and staffers in connection with the blast. During digging, officials noticed two holes in an underground gas pipe adjacent to the mosque.
In two separate letters, the Titas authority suspended the eight officials and staffers for negligence.
The authority also issued show-cause notices against them.
