A Palli Bidyut official has ruled out an electrical short circuit as the likely cause of the fire at National Citizen Party (NCP) lawmaker Nusrat Tabassum's family home in Kushtia, contradicting an earlier suggestion by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed.
Tozammel Haque, assistant general manager of Kushtia Palli Bidyut Samity's Pragpur Zonal Office, said neither the electricity meter nor the transformer circuit fuse supplying power to the house showed signs of damage.
He made the remarks to Daily Waadaa on Friday afternoon after giving evidence to a four-member investigation committee formed by the Home Ministry.
“Based on our observations, there is no indication that the fire was caused by a short circuit. The fire may have originated from another cause,” Tozammel said.
He said electricity officials had inspected the house on the night of the fire.
They found the electricity meter intact. The circuit fuse of the transformer supplying the house was also undamaged.
According to Tozammel, a short circuit would have been expected to damage either the meter or the transformer's circuit fuse.
Neither showed such damage, he said.
Kushtia Superintendent of Police Md Aminul Islam questioned whether the electricity official was “qualified” to determine the cause of the fire.
“Is the AGM a forensic expert? What would he understand? We have sent it to the CID. Let the report come,” Aminul told Waadaa.
The police superintendent's comments indicate that investigators have not reached a final conclusion and are awaiting findings from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Police have also said they found no evidence of a cocktail bomb at the scene.
The police position differs from Nusrat's allegation that an explosive or incendiary device was thrown at her family home.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed earlier suggested that the fire might have resulted from an electrical short circuit.
His remarks came as Nusrat publicly alleged that the blaze was a deliberate attack involving a petrol bomb.
Nusrat has maintained that the fire did not originate from an electrical fault.
She also claimed that CCTV footage showed a pattern of fire that could be consistent with a cocktail bomb being thrown onto the rooftop.
The Home Ministry formed a four-member committee to investigate the incident.
On Friday afternoon, committee members began recording statements from eyewitnesses and other people connected to the fire.
Tozammel was among those who gave evidence.
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