Brahmanbaria funeral crowd: Probe body starts investigation

The probe committee formed to investigate the funeral prayers attended by thousands of people in Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria, violating an ongoing lockdown to prevent coronavirus outbreak, has started its work.

The three-member committee, led by Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police (Chittagong range) Md Iqbal Hossain, visited the spot at Jamia Rahmania Bertola Madrasa on Sunday evening and talked to locals over the incident.

"We have started our investigation. We will talk to people and collect information to know the facts," Iqbal told reporters.

The probe body formed by the Police Headquarters in Dhaka is scheduled to submit its report within April 22.

Dealing a major blow to the ban on mass gatherings to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, as many as 100,000 people attended the namaz-e-janaza of Maulana Jubayer Ahmed Ansari, a senior nayeb-e-ameer of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, in Sarail upazila on Saturday morning.

The incident not only raised concerns about the risks of contagion, but also threw up questions about the role of the authorities, especially the law enforcers, who have been constantly maintaining strict measures across the country to ensure social distancing.

However, following the incident, Sarail circle Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Masud Rana, Sarail police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shahadat Hossain Titu and Inspector (Investigation) Nurul Haque were withdrawn for failing to prevent the large number of people from attending the funeral prayers.

On Sunday, Health Minister Zahid Maleque came down hard on the local administration in Brahmanbaria for failing to stop the massive turnout of people at the funeral prayers. 

Meanwhile, the local administration on Saturday afternoon put eight villages in Sadar, Sarail and Ashuganj upazilas of the district under lockdown, aiming to minimize the risks of the novel coronavirus transmission after the incident.

Covid-19, a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus, has claimed 91 lives and infected 2,456 people in Bangladesh as of Sunday.