KARACHI: Important evidence in thousands of criminal trials and case properties was destroyed in a huge fire that broke out in a malkhana (storehouse of case properties) located on the premises of the City Courts in the early hours of Wednesday.

As police investigators are sceptical about the exact cause of the mysterious fire, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident, saying the cases of prosecution would suffer irreparable damage in the absence of case properties and benefit the accused parties.

DIG South Azad Khan told Dawn that the fire erupted at around 1.30am inside a sealed room of the malkhana but a watchman and police guards noticed it at 2.30am when they smelled smoke emanating from the room.

Police seek help from army’s bomb experts; Karachi Bar demands judicial inquiry

They immediately informed the fire brigade, which said it initially sent one fire tender after getting information at 2.31am.

However, the gravity of the situation forced them to call in more fire tenders from across the city. The fire tenders of the Karachi Port Trust and Pakistan Navy also took part in the firefighting effort.

Around 23 to 24 fire tenders managed to control the blaze at about 6:55am, a fire official said, adding that the cooling work continued till late in the evening.

During the firefighting effort, small explosions inside the building spread panic in the area. The bomb disposal squad of the police was called which said the explosions occurred because live bullets kept in the malkhana went off due to the fire.

Help from army, Punjab Forensic Agency sought

Police investigators cast doubts over the preliminary finding that the fire might have been caused by short-circuit.

They initiated their own probe and also sought help from the Pakistan Army’s bomb experts as well as the Punjab forensic experts to go through the facts and evidence to ascertain the exact cause of the incident.

A police team led by DIG Khan along with army experts, Rangers and other officials visited the scene.

The DIG said that although the cooling process had been completed in the evening the bomb experts could not examine the site because of darkness.

He said three teams of experts belonging to the army, Rangers and police would visit the scene again on Thursday (today).

A forensic examination would be conducted by two teams of experts as the police sought help from the Punjab Forensic Agency in addition to forensic experts from Sindh, he added.

The DIG said the investigators also obtained the footage of closed-circuit television cameras installed inside and outside the malkhana. The footage suggested that the door remained sealed and no one had entered it.

He said that two investigation teams were formed to determine the loss of evidence and case properties.

Regarding destruction caused by the fire, the DIG said that the case properties and evidence of criminal cases belonging to the East and South districts were destroyed in the fire.

However, the evidence and properties of criminal cases of the West and Central districts remained safe in an adjacent room that remained unaffected by the blaze.

KBA demands judicial inquiry

KBA president Haider Imam Rizvi urged the chief justice of the Sindh High Court to order a judicial inquiry into the malkhana fire through a judge of the high court.

He was of the view that the lawyers had been demanding shifting of the malkhana out of the courts’ premises and the then KBA president had also sent a letter to the inspector general of police in this regard in 2014.

He urged the authorities concerned to immediately relocate the malkhana.

He said that the cases of prosecution would suffer irreparable damage in the absence of case properties and benefit the accused parties.

He deplored that there was no outcome of inquiry/investigations conducted into the previous fire incidents, adding that the warehouse facility was overburdened and the case properties were dumped and scattered.

Former KBA president Mahmood-ul-Hasan also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and said that a number of incidents of fire in the malkhana took place in the past, but no action was taken against the perpetrators.

He wondered why a fire broke out every time in the malkhana and not in a dispensary or a library adjacent to it. The incident has benefitted the accused persons, he added.

Legal proceedings suspended

The legal proceedings remained suspended at the City Courts on Wednesday since undertrial prisoners could not be brought to the judicial lock-up.

Litigants were also not allowed to enter the court premises.

The registrar of the Sindh High Court also visited the City Courts.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2018