The factory, based on the outskirts of Dhaka, was supplying clothes to a variety of international brands including US giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A and ENYCE, a label owned by US rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs. "We have found that the fire that gutted Tazreen Fashion factory in Ashulia was an act of sabotage," Khandaker said.
"The statements of the witnesses revealed that it was an act of sabotage. There was no possibility of the fire originating due to an electric short-circuit or any other reason," he added, without suggesting who might have triggered the fire or why. He said the fire was small when it broke out on the night of November 24 in the middle of the factory warehouse in the ground floor. "But there was no attempt to douse it. We suggested that the government set up a taskforce to find out the people responsible for this heinous act," he added.
Khandaker also said his inquiry team would recommend that Delwar Hossain, the owner of the factory in the Ashulia industrial district, should face murder charges for "gross negligence and unpardonable crime". "We have suggested legal action against him and nine of his mid-level managers who barred the workers from leaving the burning factory," he said.
The owner told reporters after the blaze that he believed it was started deliberately but gave no details. The victims, mostly women who were paid as little as $37 a month, found themselves overcome by smoke or jumped from elevated windows. Fire-fighters have told AFP that all three of the fire exits led to the ground floor. Fire investigators had earlier said the nine-storey factory lacked a valid safety licence at the time and only had permission for three floors. Abdus Salam, a member of the inquiry committee, told AFP that the building lacked proper fire exits on the upper floors.