74 more booked for Shahberi collapse; Gangster Act on six
NOIDA: The Greater Noida Authority has filed three separate complaints against 74 persons in connection with the collapse of two buildings in Greater Noida’s Shahberi village on July 17.
Police also booked the six men arrested in the case under the Gangster Act on Saturday and will also recommend slapping of the National Security Act (NSA), 1980.
The officials said the 74 people were booked by the Bisrakh police station on charges of negligent conduct with pulling down or repairing buildings.
After the district administration provided land records last week, naming 19 builders who have sold over 300 flats in Shahberi, the Greater Noida Authority on Saturday filed these complaints for illegal construction in the area.
“We are still investigating and are not sure about the identity of all accused. They may be land owners, builders, construction contractors or brokers who work on construction and sale of property in the area, which may be illegal,” Akhilesh Tripathy, station house officer, Bisrakh police station, said.
A total of 98 people have been named so far in the case. This includes 24 accused named in the complaint filed by police on July 17, the day of the incident when two buildings collapsed, killing nine people.
The move to book the accused under Gangster Act was recommended by the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration. The complaint named Ganga Shankar Dwivedi as the gang leader, and five others as members. The other five accused are Pankaj Goyal, Dinesh Kumar, Sanjiv Kumar, Qasim Khan and Shyamji Pathak. “We will recommended levying of the NSA for disturbing law and order. The situation created panic,” Aashish Shrivastava, superintendent of police (rural), said.
While the main accused have been arrested, more information is expected regarding the quality of construction in the area and what risk is being homebuyers face in Shahberi and other parts of Greater Noida.
“These builders constructed buildings without getting map and layout approved. They used inferior material to make bigger profits. Many others face risk in that area and we hope to get more evidence against the accused for negligence,” B N Singh, district magistrate, said.
Two buildings had collapsed on the night of July 17. One building was just completed where one family had moved in and the second was under construction.