Nine officials sued [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Nine officials sued

Local December 22, 2016

Biman filed a case on early Wednesday accusing eight engineers and a technician of criminal conspiracy and sabotage through negligent conduct with respect to machinery for technical glitch that caused an emergency landing of prime minister’s flight on the way to Hungary on November 27.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines director (engineering and material management) retired Wing Commander MM Asaduzzaman field the first information report with Dhaka Airport police station 25 days after the incident.
The case was filed against Biman’s chief engineer (production) Debesh Chowdhury, chief engineer (inspection and quality control) SA Siddique and principal engineer Billal Hossain, engineering officers SM Rokonuzzaman, Samiul Haque, Lutfor Rahman, Milon Chnadra Biswas and Zakir Hossin and junior technician Siddiqur Rahman.
Technician Siddiqur was named as prime accused as he had repaired ‘Oil Pressure Sensor’ in absence of any engineer.
The eight engineers and Siddiqur were suspended following the report of an probe committee Biman formed on November 28.
The case was transferred to the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police for investigation.
The unit’s deputy commissioner Mohibul Islam Khan said that they just started the investigation and none was arrested.
‘We will examine the allegations made in the FIR,’ he added.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate, Mohammad Golam Nabi, on Wednesday asked police to submit their report by January 12.
The complaint stated that the suspected offences were committed at Biman’s hanger at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport between 8:30am and 6:30pm on November 26, just a day before the prime minister’ flight flew for Hungary.
According to the complaint, the probe into the incident revealed that a loose B-nut led to oil seepage inside the left engine of the aircraft causing fall of Oil Pressure in the engine that forced the emergency landing of the flight.
The complainant suspected that stated that the Oil Pressure Line B-Nut of Oil/ Oil Heat Exchangers might have been loosened by because of interference of the people involved in repairing the Oil Pressure Sensor of the aircraft on November 26 as an act of sabotage.
The complaint accused the nine people of an act of sabotage by impairing the efficiency or impeding the working of, or causing damage to aircraft under the Special Powers Act 1974, and criminal conspiracy, negligent of conduct with respect to machinery, and concealment of design to commit an offence under the Penal Code.
The complaint stated that Debesh Chowdhury had not properly supervised the VVIP inspection despite being the team leader while chief engineer (inspection and quality control) SA Siddique did not follow the prescribed checking for VVIP flight.
Principal engineer Billal Hossain claimed that he had formed a maintenance team verbally but there was no existence of the team in black and white, stated the complaint.
Of the five engineers, SM Rokonuzzaman was named for signing maintenance release book while Samiul Haque was named for engaging technician Siddiqur in the repairing work.
Lutfor Rahman and Milon Chnadra Biswas were present during the repairing while Zakir was engaged in collecting all documents.
Debesh Chowdhury told New Age, ‘The allegation against me is not true.’
Talking to New Age, a number of employees in the national flag carrier demanded that the perpetrators must be identified and brought to justice through a proper investigation but none of their colleagues should be arrested or harassed without any reasonable ground.
On November 30, civil aviation and tourism minister Rashed Khan Menon said the technical glitch was caused by a ‘human error.’