• In fresh charge sheet, police say KMC’s fire brigade and Rescue 1122 used available resources to put out fire
• No ignitable liquid or explosive material found
KARACHI: While giving a clean chit to the government departments, police have filed a new charge sheet in the Gul Plaza inferno case mainly holding the management of the building responsible for “criminal negligence”.
The investigating officer (IO) of the case has named the management of Gul Plaza and a shopkeeper and his underage son as accused persons and heavily relied on the report of a judicial commission to exonerate the Sindh Building Control Authority, Fire Brigade, Rescue 1122, Civil Defence and district administration from any negligence on their part.
The IO, DSP Amir Virk, on Saturday submitted a charge sheet before a judicial magistrate (South) and said that as per forensic analysis, no ignitable liquid or explosive material was found.
Over 70 people had lost their lives in the devastating fire that erupted on the night of Jan 17 and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, leaving the ground-plus-three-storey building of Gul Plaza in ruins, with some of its sections collapsed.
While incorporating an additional provision about negligent conduct, the IO has chargesheeted four members of Gul Plaza Management Committee — Tanveer Pasta, Amar Ismail, Muhammad Ramazan and Muhammad Ameen — and the owner of an artificial flower shop, Naimatullah, and his over 11-year-old son Huzaifa in the case.
Police reiterated their stance in the charge sheet that Huzaifa, along with his 13-year-old friend Aryan, was present at a shop on Jan 17 as his father had left to attend a wedding and the minor son of the shopkeeper was playing with matchsticks when the fire suddenly broke out in the shop.
The two nearby shopkeepers, Talha and Waleed, had attempted to put out the fire by taking the burning stuff out of the shop, but the fire had spread due to flammable material lying outside other shops.
It also said that reports were obtained from the director general of SBCA, fire officer of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Rescue 1122, deputy commissioner (South) and Civil Defence and recorded testimonies of their relevant officials.
However, the charge sheet further asserted that the judicial commission has not found any criminal negligence on the part of these departments or officials but efforts were underway to improve the departments in order to avoid any such incident in future.
It maintained that the KMC’s fire brigade and Rescue 1122 had used the available resources and made efforts to put out the blaze while one firefighter had lost his life during the operation.
It also said that as per the testimonies of firefighting and rescue officials, various exit and entrance points of the building were found locked during the rescue operation and they provided footage and photos in this regard.
The police have blamed the management of the building in the charge sheet and stated that the administration had lacked adequate tools to extinguish the fire and the administration had immediately asked K-Electric to switch off the electricity after the incident despite the fact that there was no alternative arrangement for emergency lighting while only two of the building’s gates were open when the fire broke out.
The building administration had also failed to inform the fire brigade in a timely manner about the fire as one Abdul Samad had alerted the firefighting unit.
The report also added that one Faisal Ibrahim, the owner of Fire Works VIP Service, used to provide fire safety equipment to the Gul Plaza union.
However, the charge sheet said that the quantity of such equipment was found to be inadequate and building management was responsible for repairing and replenishing it.
It also asserted that initially, director of Civil Defence Abdul Majeed Jagirani was Service, used to provide fire safety equipment to the Gul Plaza union.
However, the charge sheet said that the quantity of such equipment was found to be inadequate and building management was responsible for repairing and replenishing it.
It also asserted that initially, director of Civil Defence Abdul Majeed Jagirani was suspended while additional controller Fatima Memon and Mirza Mursalin Baig were dismissed from service, but no criminal negligence of the institution was found.
Similarly, it further maintained that station officer of the fire brigade Zaheer Siddiqui was also removed from his role, but no criminal negligence was found on the part of fire brigade.
The IO has listed 87 prosecution witnesses in the case and asserted that criminal negligence and carelessness were established against the persons named as accused in the investigation report and also incorporated Section 285 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Initially, the police had filed an investigation report/charge in July listing the same set of persons as accused persons, but the court had rejected the same and ordered a thorough and satisfactory investigation through a DSP.
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2026
