The death toll in the Mohali building collapse climbed to two after the body of a 29-year-old man was recovered from under the rubble on Sunday. The Officiating Deputy Commissioner Viraj S Tidke said that the district administration concluded the 23-hour long rescue operation, with the help of NDRF and Army, at around 4.30 pm on Sunday.

The multi-storey building collapsed on Saturday evening in Sohana village of Mohali district, with at least five people trapped under its rubble. Rescue efforts continued overnight to find possible survivors, he added.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Mohali, Damandeep Kaur said that one male body was recovered during the rescue operation on Sunday. He was identified as Abhishek Dhanwal from Ambala, who worked in an IT firm.  Earlier, a 20-year-old woman died in the incident on Saturday evening. Drishti Verma, a native of Theog in Shimla district, died after she was pulled out of the debris of the building. She worked in a private firm in Mohali. She was rescued from the rubble in a critical condition and was rushed to a hospital, but she succumbed to injuries.

Mohali SSP Deepak Pareek said, “Building owners Parwinder Singh and Gagandeep Singh, residents of Chao Majra, have been arrested for culpable homicide.”

Talking to reporters, the Officiating Deputy Commissioner Tidke said that the district administration has finally completed the 23-hour-long constant rescue operation with the help of NDRF and Army.

Tidke said that the giant operation to evacuate the trapped persons whose exact number was not ascertained initially, got a major boost when a critically injured female was rescued from the wreckage in the late evening. After that a whole night operation that was continued till 4:30 pm, it was made clear by the NDRF that there was no more possibility of any person trapped under the debris, he added.

 Tidke further said that about 140 NDRF team members, 167 from the Army’s 57 Engineers Regiment, over 300 from local police and the rest from allied departments were involved in the operation. Informing about the casualties during the mishap, Tidke further said that the whole operation has ascertained two deaths, one of Drishti (20) from Himachal and another Abhishek Dhanwal (30) from Ambala. He said that the debris had been checked by the NDRF thoroughly before declaring the operation completed.  During this operation, requisite machinery was provided to the NDRF in addition to what they already had. The whole operation was closely monitored by the District Civil and Police Officials till its completion. DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar, ADC (UD) Anmol Singh Dhaliwal, SP Jyoti Yadav Bains remained present during the operation.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the building, which also had a gym, collapsed due to digging in an adjacent plot,

He said that a magisterial probe had been ordered in this incident to fix the responsibility. Sub Divisional Magistrate, Mohali Damandeep Kaur has been entrusted with the probe and she has been asked to submit the report within three weeks, he added.

The building was located in a densely populated area. A gym was being run from the basement and ground floor, and two upper floors housed the PG facility, said police sources, adding that digging work was being carried out in the adjoining plot. MC officials said that no permission had been taken for the digging work.