Chattogram district police have found no negligence on the part of the eight BM Depot officials sued in connection to the deadly explosion and fire at the depot in Sitakunda on June 4 last year, which left 51 people dead and 250 injured.
In the final report of the case, police said the accused were not responsible for the blast and it was not an act of sabotage, but an accident, Chattogram Superintendent of Police SM Shafiullah told .
DB Inspector Mostaq Ahmed Chowdhury, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the report to the general recording officer of the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court of Chattogram on Wednesday, but the development came to light today.
The eight accused are: Nurul Akter, deputy general manager (operations); Khaledur Rahman, manager (admin); Abbas Ullah, assistant admin officer; Md Nasir Uddin, senior executive (admin and complaints); Md Abdul Aziz, assistant manager (inland container depot); Saidul Islam, in-charge (container freight station); Nazrul Islam, container freight station; and Nazmul Akter Khan, deputy general manager (sales and marketing).
On June 8 last year, Ashraf Siddique, sub-inspector of Sitakunda Model Police Station, filed the case under Sections 337/338/304(ka) and 427 over their negligence, which led to the blast. The name of BM depot's owner was excluded from the case documents.
SP Shafiullah said, "Police submitted the report to the court saying that it [the case] was a mistake of fact. The eight officials were not responsible for the incident, we found during our investigation. They did not show any negligence to their duties. It was an accident.
"We have not found any criminal offence or ill motive," he added.
In the case statement, police had said the deaths and casualties were due to the fire and explosion that happened because the accused stored hazardous chemicals in the depot without taking the necessary precautionary steps.
A probe committee, led by Chattogram Additional Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, had mentioned 20 recommendations to avoid recurrence of any such incident in its 19-page report with a 300-page attachment.
Following the report, Mohammed Delwar Hossain, deputy secretary of the Cabinet Division, on July 25 last year issued letters to eight departments including the commerce ministry, energy and minerals ministry, defence ministry, shipping ministry, and ministry of industries.
