Bangladeshi police on Monday charged 41 people including the owner of the Rana Plaza factory complex with murder over the building’s collapse in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka formally accepted a charge sheet from police against Sohel Rana, 35, and the others in connection with the collapse, the country’s worst ever industrial disaster.
“We’ve charged 41 people including the owner of the building, Sohel Rana, with murder over the collapse of Rana Plaza in April 2013,” lead investigator Bijoy Krishna Kar told AFP, adding that all face the death penalty if convicted.
Among the others charged are seven owners of the individual factories housed in the complex and 12 government officials whose responsibilities included safety and inspections of the building.
“It is the biggest industrial disaster in Bangladesh’s history. And all 41 of them have collective responsibility for this mass killing of more than 1,100 innocent people,” Kar said.
Rana became Bangladesh’s public enemy number one after survivors recounted how thousands of them were forced to enter the compound at the start of the working day despite complaints about cracks appearing in the walls.
Rana was arrested on the western border with India as he tried to flee the country, in the days after the April 24 disaster.
