Case filed over Patharghata blast, investigation on
The district administration on Monday added two more members to its probe committee previously formed with five members
The probe committees formed by district administration and Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) have separately started investigating the gas explosion that claimed seven lives at Patharghata in Chattogram.
Members of the probe bodies visited the blast scene at the Barua Bhaban in the area and collected various types of evidence on Monday morning.
Besides, Shahina Akter, the wife of Mahmudul Haque who died in the blast, on the same day filed a case with the Kotwali police station accusing two people, said Mohammad Mohsin, the officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station.
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The OC did not reveal the names of the accused for the sake of the investigation.
Purna Chandra Mutsuddi, a member of the district administration's probe body and the deputy assistant director of Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defence, said, "We have visited the explosion spot. Now we are checking whether the explosion caused from sewer gas or pipeline gas."
"The gas riser and pipeline were old and unprotected in the damaged Barua Bhaban. The accident could be caused by pipeline leakage," said Tofazzal Hossain, the divisional inspector at the Department of Explosives, Chattogram.
ANM Salek, the managing director of the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company, denied the claim. "The explosion did not cause for any fault in the gas supply line."
Meanwhile, the Chattogram district administration on Monday added two more members to its probe committee previously formed with five members led by Additional District Magistrate AZ Sharif Hossain.
The committee comprises representatives from the fire service, city corporation, Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited, Chittagong Development Authority and the police.
Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Elias Hossain asked the committee to submit their probe report within the next seven working days.
On the other hand, another seven-member probe committee formed by the Chattogram police also visited the scene.
Patharghata ward councilor Ismail Bali, OC of Kotwali police station Mohammad Mohsin and others accompanied the investigation team.
"The probe team is yet to discover the original reason behind the blast. However, they primarily assume the incident happened due to gas pipeline explosion," said OC Mohsin.
The members of the probe body include Mehedi Hasan, the deputy commissioner of CMP's south zone, Manzoor Morshed, the additional deputy commissioner of the Special Branch, Nobel Chakma, an assistant commissioner of the CMP's
Kotwali Zone, Sarwar Hossain, the general manager (engineering and services) of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company, and Engineer Ahsan Habib, the general manager (quality control), Engineer Abu Jahir, the deputy general manager (sales), and Engineer Shafiul Alam, the deputy general manager (planning) of the company.
