Sohel Rana, the owner of the collapsed Rana Plaza and a Jubo League leader, was temporarily released on parole from Kashimpur Jail on Saturday, February 21, to attend his mother’s funeral in Savar. The funeral took place at a madrasa mosque in the Savar municipal area, where police from Savar Model Police Station were present. During the event, Rana addressed those in attendance, asking for prayers for his late mother and forgiveness for his past mistakes.

According to his cousin Jahangir Alam, Rana’s mother, Marzina Begum, had been suffering from cancer for a long time and passed away on Friday night at a hospital in Dhaka. Following her death, a parole request was submitted, and Rana was brought to Savar by police around 6 p.m. He returned to prison around 7:30 p.m. after the funeral. The arrangement for his attendance at the funeral was kept confidential.

The brief parole release marked Rana’s first public appearance in nearly a decade, drawing attention due to his past involvement in the Rana Plaza tragedy.