NIPA manhole tragedy: Citizen seeks case against Karachi Mayor

KARACHI:  A petition seeking the registration of a case against the Mayor of Karachi, Murtaza Wahab in connection with the NIPA Chowrangi incident has been filed in the City Court on Monday.

The petition was filed by Sheikh Saqib Ahmed Advocate, pleading for legal action against those allegedly responsible for the incident.

The court issued a notice to the Station House Officer (SHO) of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station, directing him to submit a written response by 11 January.

The petitioner has also made parties the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town Chairman, the Executive Engineer (XEN), and the Project Director as respondents.

It is to be remembered that a three-year-old child Ibrahim, fell into an uncovered manhole near the Nipa Roundabout on Sunday night. The body of Ibrahim, who was recovered 15 hours after the incident.

The toddler’s death, occurring on the night of November 30, underscores the perilous state of Karachi’s crumbling infrastructure, where open drains and manholes continue to claim innocent lives despite repeated warnings.

The tragedy unfolded around 10 p.m. on Sunday when Ibrahim, the only child of his parents Nabeel and his wife, accompanied the family for a routine shopping trip at the Chase Up departmental store adjacent to the NIPA flyover.

As the family exited the store, Nabeel paused to unlock his parked motorcycle in the bustling parking area. In a fleeting moment of distraction, the curious toddler slipped from his father’s grasp, darted ahead between the vehicles, and plummeted into a 2×2-foot open manhole—three feet deep and part of the city’s main 36-inch drainage line repurposed for sewage.

Eyewitnesses described the manhole as a gaping hazard, its cover missing for several days, with no protective barriers in sight despite its location in front of a high-traffic commercial hub.

The family’s home in Shah Faisal Colony, a modest neighborhood on Karachi’s eastern fringes, now stands shrouded in grief. Ibrahim’s grandfather, Mehmoodul Hasan, received the child’s body late Monday.