A woman has died and several others have been injured after jumping off a multi-storey building in Dhaka’s Gulshan during an eviction drive launched by the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), according to police.
The DNCC launched the drive to remove commercial buildings illegally developed in the Gulshan residential area. One of the buildings was housing a spa centre from where the woman and several other staff members jumped, a police officer said.
Gulshan Police Station Sub-Inspector Md Alamgir took two injured women to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared one of them dead around 4:15 pm on Wednesday.
The other woman is in critical condition and one of her arms is broken, reports bdnews24.com.
“An eviction drive was underway in the Gulshan area under the orders of a magistrate. The members of the Armed Police Battalion took part in the drive. Several people jumped off a building at that time. The police took them to the hospital after the incident was reported to the local police station,” Alamgir said, citing witnesses.
The woman who died has been identified as Farzana Akter, 19, a native of Khulna. She had been living with her family in Khilkhet, said her husband Zahid Hassan, a local trader.
At least four female employees of the spa centre jumped off the building in a panic during the drive, police said initially.
Senior police officials were headed to the scene in Gulshan.
DNCC spokesman Pial Hasan said the corporation conducts eviction drives on a regular basis to stop commercial activities in residential areas. “The drive on the spa centre was part of it.”
Two spa centre staff members jumped off the building to escape, he added.
