Police seek time to submit Gul Plaza probe report in court

A judicial magistrate on Tuesday granted the investigating officer more time to complete the probe into the Gul Plaza fire case after he informed the court that statements from two government departments were still pending.

The hearing was held before the Judicial Magistrate (South), where the IO said the investigation could not be completed due to a lack of cooperation from the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC).

He said that statements of officials from the two departments had yet to be recorded and requested more time to complete the investigation, expressing hope that both institutions would cooperate.

According to media reports, statements of officials from six government departments have already been recorded, including the Traffic Police, Fire Brigade, Civil Defence, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Deputy Commissioner South's office and Rescue 1122.

They said the investigation has identified Tanveer Pasta as the person bearing the responsibility in the incident. Investigators allege that he failed to fulfil his responsibilities after the fire broke out and did not inform the Fire Brigade, instead contacting K-Electric.

The court granted the investigating officer time until August 9 to complete the investigation.

The investigating officer has already recorded the statements of Tanveer Pasta, Ammar Ismail, Ameen, Ramzan, Naimatullah and 11-year-old Huzaifa.

Earlier, investigators nominated six people, including Gul Plaza Union President Tanveer Pasta, as accused in the case. Tanveer Pasta and the other suspects are currently on interim bail.