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Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said investigators have found no evidence so far that petrol bombs were used to set fire to the ancestral home of National Citizen Party (NCP) lawmaker Nusrat Tabassum in Kushtia.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, the minister said preliminary findings suggested that an electrical short circuit might have caused the fire.
He said investigators found no signs of a petrol bomb explosion on the walls of the house, while no witnesses had provided information indicating that petrol bombs were used.
According to the minister, an initial assessment by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) also pointed to a possible electrical fault, as the house had old and weak electrical wiring. A photograph taken at the scene appeared to support the possibility of a short circuit.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight on Wednesday at the lawmaker’s ancestral home in Bagowan village of Daulatpur upazila. The single-storey, tin-shed house had eight rooms, five of which were gutted in the blaze. Two goats kept inside the house died, while shoemaking materials, clothes and other belongings were also damaged.
The house was unoccupied and located around 20 metres from a separate three-storey building where Nusrat’s parents live.
Earlier, Nusrat and NCP leaders alleged that unidentified attackers had hurled four petrol bombs at the house. The party’s media cell and spokesperson Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain blamed individuals affiliated with the Awami League for the alleged attack.
However, the Home Minister said the cause of the fire had not yet been conclusively established.
He said he had ordered a joint investigation involving the BGB, Fire Service and Civil Defence, police and civil administration to determine whether the incident was accidental or an act of sabotage.
Photographs, audio and video recordings, and other evidence collected from the scene have been preserved for examination. A general diary (GD No. 703) has also been filed with the local police station.
The minister said appropriate action would be taken if further investigation established that anyone was involved in sabotage.
He stressed that a definitive conclusion would be reached only after the investigation was completed.