Karachi East Deputy Inspector General of Police Azfar Mahesar on Sunday announced the sealing of RJ Mall on Rashid Minhas Road building where several shops were gutted after a fire broke out a day earlier resulting in the death of 11 people.

The investigation committee comprising DIG, SSP, and SSP Investigation East visited the building. The committee will submit a report to the chief of Karachi police in a week.

DIG Mahesar said that the investigation committee will also include a professor of the NED University and will determine the responsibility for the fire.

He went on to add that the authorities were sealing the premises and the building was to be evacuated on Sunday and was to remain sealed till the release of the investigation report.

The authorities are yet to identify two bodies of the victims killed in the blaze while nine bodies out of the 11 killed have been handed over to the families after identification.

Meanwhile, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui blasted the police for naming the fire brigade department in the first information report of the blaze.

The building premises come under the jurisdiction of the Cantonment Board Faisal and Karachi Municipal Corporation has no relevance to the area, he said while speaking to reporters on Sunday.

Mayor Siddiqui went on to add that the map of the mall was approved by the CBF and not KMC or Sindh Building Control Authority while the board collects taxes from the mall and was responsible for regularising the building.

Police registered a FIR at Shrae Faisal police station a day after a shopping mall in Karachi on Rashid Minhas Road caught fire killing multiple people.

The report nominated K-Electric, fire brigade, and departments that issued a no-objection certificate for the construction of the building.

The FIR included sections of culpable homicide, negligence, and damages for the lives lost in the incident. The report suspected that the fire in the building started due to a short circuit.

The FIR alleged that the multi-story building had no fire extinguishers and no emergency exits, while its map was also approved illegally.

“Bad materials were used in the construction of the building,” the FIR stated.