Shiv Sena leader arrested for Mumbai building collapse
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sunil Shitap was arrested on Wednesday and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with Tuesday’s building collapse that claimed 17 lives, an official said.
Shitap, who was detained on Tuesday night, was formally arrested early on Wednesday and slapped with various charges under the Indian Penal Code including “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”.
He was presented before a magistrate and remanded in police custody till August 2.
According to police and BMC, Shitap was the owner of a nursing home on the ground floor of the fourstorey dilapidated private building, Sai Darshan, in Ghatkopar, which had 15 flats.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Shitap was allegedly carrying out illegal repairs and renovation of the nursing home to convert it into a guest house.
He reportedly demolished a supporting main pillar of the residential building which could have weakened the old structure and led to its sudden collapse on Tuesday morning.
The building residents and neighbours said they had repeatedly warned Shitap against making any structural changes but he ignored their pleas.
The crash found its echo in the monsoon session of Maharashtra Assembly which was adjourned thrice on Wednesday morning as a belligerent opposition demanded a discussion on the matter.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar alleged that, as per documents available with him, the accused was planning to convert the nursing home into a liquor bar.