Questioning Gulistan building owner: DB chief

Additional Commissioner of DMP's Detective Branch Mohammad Harun Or Rashid said his officers are questioning the owner of the Gulistan building ravaged by an explosion yesterday.

Without mentioning any name, he further said they were also quizzing owners of the shops on the ground floor of the building.

"We are enquiring where was the septic tank, where was the sewage line, where was the water reservoir, gas line, AC, etc. Since it is not possible to go inside the building, we are getting the information by questioning them," he said at a briefing at the DMP Media Centre.

Harun said the basement and ground floor of the Gulistan building were constructed in 1992.

After many years, the upper floors of the seven-storey building was built. "It's garage is no longer a garage. Even the owner of the building cannot tell where its septic tank is."

Meanwhile, relatives of Abdul Motaleb Mintu, owner of a sanitary shop at the building, alleged that DB picked him up on the Dhaka Medical College Hospital premises around 3:00am today.

He went there in search of a missing employee of his shop.

Mintu's cousin Anwar Hossain told The Daily Star that he was with Mintu when DB picked him up.

He said the explosion took place at the basement just under his ground-floor shop at the building.

Mashiur Rahman, deputy commissioner (Lalbagh division) of DB, denied detaining anyone as no case has yet been filed over the incident.