Police charge sheet says building management at fault for Gul Plaza inferno

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KARACHI: Police on Saturday submitted a charge sheet before the South judicial magistrate on the Gul Plaza fire, blaming the building management’s “negligence”. The deadly inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, had claimed at least 73 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins. A previous charge sheet submitted in July had named six people — including 11-year-old Huzaifa — as the accused. However, a judicial magistrate had rejected the document, noting that the investigating officer (IO) had not conducted a thorough and satisfactory probe. The fresh charge sheet, dated September 3 and submitted by the Nabi Bux police, names four of those six as the accused sent for trial: Huzaifa’s father Naimatullah who owned an artificial flower shop; Gul Plaza Traders Association President Tanveer Pasta; along with association members Ammar Ismail and Muhammad Ramzan. The document stated that the Gul Plaza administration did not have adequate tools to extinguish the fire, considering the scale of the building. It added that there was “no alternative arrangement for emergency lights, due to which people faced difficulties leaving” the building. It noted that during the investigation, the complainant in the case said only two of the building’s gates were open at the time of the fire. “People could not leave due to the locks on the grills of the gates,” the charge sheet read. It went on to say that during the rescue operation, a gate on the third floor was locked, “which showed that the Gul Plaza administration had their guards close the gates”. The document further pointed out that the building management had K-Electric switch off the power supply “despite knowing that they do not have any other alternative arrangement for lighting”. More to follow

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