Mumbai building collapse: Owner who rented flats held
MUMBAI: Police on Wednesday arrested a 40-year-old man who had allegedly rented out his flats in the ill-fated building in suburban Kurla which collapsed and claimed the lives of 19 persons.
A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered earlier in the day against some flat owners and others at Nehru Nagar police station in connection with the Monday midnight’s incident. Most of those who died in the incident were tenants.
Dilip Vishwas, the arrested man, was a contractor by profession, and named in the first information report (FIR), said a police official.
He had allegedly rented out his flats in the building, located in Naik Nagar Housing Society, he said. As per the FIR, flat owners including Rajni Rathod, Kishore Chavan, Balkrishna Rathod and Vishwas rented out their flats even though the building had been declared as dilapidated by the civic body BMC.
A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 304 (2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) has been registered against them. Senior BMC officials had claimed that residents of the building, constructed in 1973, had undertaken to carry out repairs, but apparently no repairs were carried out. At least 19 people were killed and several others were injured after a portion of a fourstorey building collapsed in Kurla (east) area of Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Tuesday.
While at least 14 people have been rescued so far, search operations are underway as more people are believed to be buried under the debris, they added.
A portion of ‘D wing’ of a building in Naik Nagar Society collapsed at around 11.52 pm on Monday. A team of Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and National Disaster Response Force immediately rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation, the BMC said in a statement. The injured were rushed to hospitals in Sion and Rajawadi, the civic body added. While 10 people have been discharged, four persons continue to receive treatment in the hospital. According to BMC officials, the civic body had declared the building ‘dilapidated’ in 2013. The residents, however, carried out a structural audit after the local ward office disconnected electricity and water connections in 2015. The report claimed the building was in a “repairable” state, the officials said.
“We will have to recheck the structural auditor’s report which said the building could be repaired. In case of private buildings, the BMC allows societies to conduct an audit by any empaneled auditor to avoid allegations that the civic body has purposefully declared a building dilapidated,” BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said.