A high-profile legal battle has commenced following the death of Ashfaquzzaman Chowdhury, a 35-year-old multinational corporate employee who was killed by a falling construction rod in Dhaka’s affluent Gulshan-1 district. The victim’s family has filed a case against the leadership of the Concord Group, while the developer has issued a staunch denial, suggesting the fatal object originated from an adjacent building.
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The Prosecution’s Case: “Gross Negligence”
The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon, 22 January, on Road 140 in Gulshan. Mr Chowdhury, a native of Banshkhali in Chattogram, was standing on the pavement when a steel rod plummeted from a height and struck him. He was rushed to United Hospital by his colleagues but was tragically pronounced dead on arrival.
On Friday, the victim’s father-in-law, Sirajul Islam Talukdar, lodged a case at Gulshan Police Station. The lawsuit specifically names:
SM Kamal Uddin (72): Founder and Chairman of Concord Group.
Shahriar Kamal (45): Managing Director of Concord Group.
Unknown Persons: 10 to 12 additional staff members and site supervisors.
The plaintiff alleges that the death was the inevitable result of “criminal negligence,” citing a lack of basic safety measures such as perimeter netting or debris catchers at the construction site of the 25th Concord MBI Skyline.
Incident Dynamics and Legal Allegations
| Key Metric | Details of the Event |
| Date & Time | 22 January 2026; between 14:00 and 14:45 |
| Location | Pavement in front of House 22, Road 140, Gulshan-1 |
| Legal Charges | Sections related to death by negligence and criminal liability |
| Victim’s Origin | South Borumchara, Pukuria, Banshkhali, Chattogram |
| Official Status | Case under active investigation by Gulshan Police |
Concord’s Rebuttal: Shifting the Blame
In a written response, the Concord Group has vehemently contested the narrative. They argue that the rod did not fall from their construction project, which sits across the road from where the victim was standing. Instead, they claim the object fell from the Crystal Place building.
According to Concord’s statement, glass-cleaning operations were being conducted at Crystal Place using a suspended platform. They allege these workers were operating “dangerously” and that a small segment of a rod fell vertically from that building’s roof. Concord further claimed to possess visual evidence of cleaning staff hurriedly dismantling their platform immediately following the accident.
Police Action and On-site Verification
On Sunday, a high-level police delegation, including Deputy Commissioner Rownak Alam and Gulshan Police Station OC Rakibul Hasan, visited the scene to verify the spatial details of the incident. Initial observations confirm that while the Concord project is a significant construction site in the vicinity, the victim was standing directly beneath the façade of the Crystal Place building.
“A case has been filed, and our investigation is now focused on forensic trajectory analysis,” stated DC Rownak Alam. Police are currently collecting CCTV footage from the surrounding commercial buildings to determine exactly which structure the rod fell from.
The case has reignited public debate regarding the enforcement of RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha) safety codes. In Dhaka’s dense urban corridors, construction firms are legally obligated to install heavy-duty industrial netting to safeguard pedestrians—a measure that was reportedly absent or insufficient in this instance.