Remand of builder of collapsed Golimar structure extended

A judicial magistrate on Wednesday extended the police remand of the builder of the multi-storey building in Golimar, which collapsed earlier this month knocking down two others buildings, killing 27 people and wounding around two dozen others.

The District Central magistrate also sent five other suspects, including three Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) officials and two alleged accomplices of the builder, to jail on judicial remand.

The magistrate directed the police to present all the suspects along with a progress report on investigation in the court on March 24. Meanwhile, the police were also ordered to arrest the wife and son of the builder who were implicated in the case on the plea of the affected families of the buildings’ collapse.

The investigation officer (IO) told the court that efforts were under way to arrest the two and also the other SBCA officials who abetted the illegal construction of the ground-plus-five-storey building in the dense neighbourhood where putting up more than two storeys was not allowed by the law.

The builder, Javed, his accomplices Hanif and Younus, and SBCA officials, Sarfaraz Jamali, Irfan Ali and Mansoor Qureshi, have been accused of manslaughter and mischief. According to the prosecution, the building was constructed illegally with the connivance of the SBCA officials who approved the plan against kickbacks and deliberately ignored the flaws in its structure which later proved devastating.

The police had registered the FIR on behalf of the state against the building owner and officials of the SBCA. Javed, according to the IO, had also revealed the names of other SBCA officials involved in the illegal construction.

The IO added that the SBCA director general had been informed about the other officers of the authority named by the builder and their arrests would be made accordingly. The ground-plus-five-storey residential building had collapsed on March 5. The case was registered under the sections 322 (manslaughter), 119 (public servant concealing design to commit offence which it is his duty to prevent), 337-H (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.