‘No short circuit at Nusrat’s house, yet attackers getting impunity’: NCP’s Asif Mahmud

National Citizen Party (NCP) spokesperson Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan has accused the government of using the short-circuit theory to give the attackers impunity.

In a social media post on Friday (November 13), Asif Mahmud said Md. Tojammel Haque, Assistant General Manager (AGM) of the Kushtia Palli Bidyut Samity (rural electricity cooperative), had confirmed that no short circuit took place at Nusrat Tabassum's house the day before yesterday.

"Kushtia Palli Bidyut Samity AGM Md. Tojammel Haque has said that no short circuit incident occurred at Nusrat Tabassum's house the day before yesterday. Yet, standing in Parliament, the home minister gave the attacking arsonists impunity on the pretext of this short circuit," he wrote.

On Thursday (November 12) afternoon, during a session of the 13th National Parliament, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed addressed the fire at the ancestral village home of Nusrat Tabassum, a reserved-seat member of Parliament.

He said he had ordered a joint team to investigate whether the fire had broken out accidentally or had been set deliberately. "Even if it is abandoned, it is still the house of a member of Parliament," he said.

Citing a report from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), the minister said no sound resembling a petrol bomb explosion had been detected and no information about a petrol bomb had been found. It was therefore assumed that a petrol bomb had not been used, he said.

He added that because the house was old, its electrical wiring may have been weak, and the incident could be something like a short circuit. However, he stressed that this was only an assumption and that a full statement could be given after the investigation.