Fire Service Director General Ali Ahmed Khan refuted the allegation of negligence, saying  “the department got news of the fire a good one hour” after the flames were first spotted.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Thursday, Khan said, "After speaking to affected businessmen and the local people, we learnt that the fire started around 1:30 at night."

The massive fire in the popular shopping mall on the night of Jan 2 left 150 shops reduced to ashes.

The extent of damage has been estimated to be approximately Tk 1.5 billion.

The incident has given rise to a huge furore as some businessmen allege acts of sabotage and arson caused the blaze.

Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq, though, has dismissed claims of foul play.

However, police are investigating the cause of the fire and will check if there is any basis for an arson case.

He said his men had to break open locks to get to the affected area.

He added that there was no arrangements to fight a fire in the entire Dhaka North City Corporation-owned complex even though it sits on a sprawling seven bighas (1 bigha= 33 decimal) of land.

The complex, divided into two sections, has a total of around 600 shops.

While the upper storey sells imported food items, readymade garments, electronic goods etc, the east end of the ground floor complex has shops selling groceries and kitchen items.

A large section on the ground floor has gas-cylinder repairing outlets.

Ali said some outdated extinguishers were all the fire safety arrangements they could find, and even those could not be put to any use.

The absence of any water source nearby, according to him, further hindered attempts to douse the flames.

It is alleged that some of the shops on the ground floor sold food and used illegal gas connections. Others sold furniture and the mixture of spirits that were used added strength to the fire.

This has also fuelled a lot of criticism.

Fire Service Station Officer Enayat Hussain explained to bdnews24.com that a fire has three or four stages.

In the first stage, locals try to douse the flames. If they fail, the fire reaches its second stage where it grows in intensity.

And if the fire cannot be controlled, it reaches the third, fully developed stage. At this stage, it is nearly impossible to control a fire, he explained.

When the fire service reached Gulshan market, the blaze was in the 'fully developed stage", he explained.

Guards tried to douse the flame

The security guards posted in the complex were the first to try to fight the fire, those associated with the complex said.

He said he was on duty in the second-floor shops, which dealt in ‘raw items’.

Robiul told bdnews24.com that upon hearing someone cry out "fire, fire", he ran down, armed with two fire extinguishers.

Once downstairs, he was joined by Motiur Rahman who also had two fire extinguishers.

They tried in vain to battle with the raging flames for 15-20 minutes using a total of eight extinguishers.

The security in charge of the shopping complex, Abdul Ali told bdnews24.com that he learnt about the fire at 2:24am and then called the Fire Service.

Cashier Jamal Prodhan and Abdul Ali reached the burning market around 3am, by which time the Fire Service had begun their attempts to fight the flames.

Traders suspicious, mayor hits back

Many of the traders suspect the plan to construct the new building is the cause of the fire.

Shop owner Md Babu said the market was 'sold several times'. "They played trick after failure to tear it down. Someone started the fire in the dark of night."

DNCC Kitchen Market Traders' Association Vice-President Humayun Siddiqui said the concrete part of the market was built in 1962-63 on a seven bigha (1 bigha = 33 decimal) parcel of land. The city corporation allotted shops at the kitchen market portion in 1982.

In 2003, during the tenure of Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, a tender was floated to construct an 18-storey building on the land.

As the highest bidder expressed their unwillingness to do the job, the city corporation signed the contract with second highest bidder, Amin Associates of the Metro Group.

The 2007-08 caretaker government postponed the deal and asked Metro Group to raise the city corporation's share, which was later raised to 37 percent.

But the firm could not start the construction because of a case started by the shop owners' association of the market.

Arriving at the scene the next morning of the incident, Dhaka North Mayor Annisul Huq told the media he suspected the fire originated from an electric malfunction.

He alleged in a press conference on Thursday that 'some people' were propagandising over the incident.

“Several quarters are saying many things about the DNCC after market in Gulshan caught fire," he said.

Probes galore

The Fire Service has formed a seven-member committee headed by its Director Mosharraf Hossain to investigate the incident.

Fire Service Director General Ali Ahmed said there is a plan to form a committee with officials from the Fire Service, city corporation and police.

"A letter to Dhaka Metropolitan Police has already been sent," he said.

Police have formed a separate committee of five members, headed by Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Branch Additional Commissioner Didar Ahmed, to investigate the incident.

Police also filed a general diary (complaint) at Gulshan station on Tuesday over the incident.