Eight people were arrested Saturday on murder charges in connection with a factory fire in Bangladesh that killed at least 52 people, reports said.
Abul Hashem, the owner of Hashem Foods Ltd, and four of his sons were among eight people detained.
They all face murder charges, police said.
"We have arrested them for murder charges," Police Supt. Jayedul Alam told The Associated Press by phone. "They are in our custody now."
According to Fire Service and Civil Defense deputy chief Debashish Bardhan, they had retrieved 49 bodies - "most of them beyond recognition" - from the debris of the burning food factory.
The fire, which started on the ground floor of the six-story factory, broke out Thursday and raged for more than a day.
Twenty-five people were rescued from the building, authorities said.
Police said many of the victims were trapped inside by an illegally locked door and several workers jumped from upper floors, with dozens suffering injuries.
"It's a murder," Home Minister Asaduzzman Khan told reporters as he visited the factory site Saturday.
A fire services representative said highly flammable chemicals and plastics had been stored in the building.
The bodies will be identified through DNA tests for handover to their family members, Bardham said.
A seven-member investigation panel has been formed by the district administration to look into the incident.
A separate investigation has been carried out into the use of child labor at the factory, BBC said.
In 2012, around 117 workers were killed when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.
The following year, more than 1,100 died when a building that housed five garment factories collapsed, becoming Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XT9cof3pha0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
