Two women died and two others sustained critical injuries after a three-storey building collapsed in Central Delhi’s Paharganj area on Monday afternoon. The building collapse led to chaos in the congested Pahadi Dhiraj area under the jurisdiction of Paharganj police station.
local police has registered a case under Section 304A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are investigating the reasons behind the sudden collapse but no arrest has been made. They are also awaiting the report from the Delhi Fire Service (DFS). The building in question is owned by the father-in-law of famous cricketer Virender Sehwag. The building is said to be some 40 years old and was rented to various people.
The incident took place around 12 noon on Monday when the roof of the building on the third floor collapsed. The effect was such that the roof of the second floor collapsed and further damaged the first floor. Three women and a man were working on the first floor and were caught underneath the debris. They were all rushed to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital where two women were declared dead while the other two are under treatment. The deceased have been identified as Pushpa (52) and Rani (58) while the two injured are Ramu (28) and Geeta (50).
“The control room of DFS received a call around 12.30 pm and three fire tenders were rushed to the spot immediately. The rescue operations began to clear the debris,” said a fire official. Firemen rescued the two women who were trapped under the debris and they were rushed to a nearby hospital while the other two were declared dead on the arrival, a local police official added.
Police officials claimed that there was no construction taking place inside the building. “It is a very old building and owned by the father-in-law of cricketer Virender Sehwag, Advocate Swaraj Singh who had rented it out to another person. It was a residence-cum-workplace dealing in hosiery,” said a police official.