Police have been granted four days to grill Abul Hashem, chairman and managing director of Sajeeb Group, and seven others in a case over the deadly blaze at the factory of Hashem Foods Ltd in Narayanganj, reports bdnews24.com.
A Dhaka court issued the order in response to the police's petition for a 10-day remand following their arrest on Saturday, according to state prosecutor Mahbubur Rahman Ismail.
More than 50 workers died in the blaze that broke out at Hashem Foods factory, a unit of Sajeeb Group, on Thursday.
Fire Service officials have blamed a faulty fire safety system at the factory for the fatal blaze.
One of the staircases leading to the rooftop was also locked, leaving many workers trapped inside the burning building, according to them. The use of child labour in the factory has also come to light since the incident.
Narayanganj police later started a case on a range of charges, including murder under section 302 of the Penal Code, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment. The other charges include attempt to murder and voluntarily causing serious injury, both of which are imprisonable offences.
Apart from Hashem, his four sons, including the company's Deputy Managing Director Hasib Bin Hashem and Director Tareq Ibrahim, were also named in the case, according to Narayanganj's Superintendent of Police Zaidul Alam.
The other suspects are Mamunur Rashid, deputy general manager of Hashem Foods, and Md Salauddin, its administrative officer.
Earlier in the day, police took Hashem, CEO Shahan Shah Azad and six others into custody in connection with the incident.
Azad was picked up by law enforcers from Sajeeb Group's offices at the Shezan Point building in Dhaka's Farmgate around 1:30 pm on Saturday.
A senior reporter from bdnews24.com was on the scene when the man was driven away.
Md Shahabuddin, a security guard at the building, said, “A group of men identifying themselves as DB officers came and took him [Azad] away.”
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan visited the factory earlier on Saturday and said eight people had been detained in connection with the incident.
