The High Court (HC) today ordered Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited to pay Tk5 lakh to each of the families of the victims over the explosion in a mosque in Narayanganj.

An HC bench of Justices JBM Hasan and M Khairul Alam passed the order asking Titas to submit the money to the district's deputy commission within next seven days. Then the deputy commissioner will distribute the money among the families of the victims. 

Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker and Barrister Mariam Khandaker appeared for the writ petition.

The high court also said that Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC), Titas and the mosque committee can not evade their responsibilities in the tragic Narayanganj mosque explosion incident.

Earlier, a writ petition was filed with the High Court seeking Tk 50 lakh compensation for the families of each of the Narayanganj mosque blast victims. Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker filed the writ petition on Sunday.

So far 28 people have died and several others are fighting their lives after suffering burns as gas leakage triggered an explosion and six air conditioners exploded inside a mosque during Isha prayer in Narayanganj's Fatullah on Friday night.

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Around nine months ago, the mosque committee of Baitus Salat Jame Masjid in Narayanganj's Fatullah had informed the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited's zonal office about a leakage in a gas pipe that was beneath the mosque's ground floor.

Unfortunately, the Titas Gas Limited did not pay any heed to the mosque committee's complaint as they could not pay the TK50,000 in bribes, claimed the Mosque Committee President Abdul Gafur, also a member of the local union parishad.

While visiting the spot on September 5, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the mosque may have been built on government land. Also, the mosque has been said to be set up on a gas pipeline.

Meanwhile, a probe body formed by the Fire Service and Civil Defense revealed that the mosque was constructed without any approval of the authorities concerned. The mosque committee did not even take any subsequent clearance.