The blaze injured eight others, and completely destroyed more than 1,153 shops, resulting in extensive financial devastation.
Investigators submitted an indictment through prosecutors naming six defendants on July 4. The accused include the young boy, his father, who owned an artificial flower shop within the complex, and four members of the Gul Plaza management committee, according to NDTV.
Rescue workers search for bodies among the rubble after a massive fire broke out at a shopping mall in Karachi on Jan. 21, 2026. Photo by AFP
Following the incident, which took firefighters nearly a week to fully extinguish, all six suspects fled but were eventually apprehended by authorities.
According to the investigation, the fatal fire ignited while the 11-year-old was playing with matches inside his father's artificial flower shop.
