The death toll in the three-storey building collapse in Old Delhi’s Hauz Qazi area rose to six on Saturday, and the building owner and three contractors have been arrested in connection with the incident, police said.
The deceased have been identified as Sanjeet Kumar, Kishori Sah, Pankaj Sharma, Vipin Ram, Shantu, and Dinesh Sah. Four of the victims were residents of Bihar, while Vipin Ram lived in Mandawali, Delhi, police said.
The building owner, identified as Saimullah alias Ayub, and the three contractors-Siraj, Tajuddin, and Furkan-have been arrested. The contractors were apprehended from Sirohi in Faridabad, while the owner was also taken into custody.
The structure collapsed near the Chawri Bazar Metro station around 9.45 am on Thursday. Around 10 to 15 labourers were present at the construction site at the time of the collapse, according to police.
The arrests have been made following an FIR registered at the Hauz Qazi police station on November 5 under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 125(a) (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The operation to find more people and clear the rubble continued two days after the building under construction collapsed in Sattara Gali near Ajmeri Gate, officials said.
On the first day of the operation, two individuals, Kishori (40) and Sanjeet (45), were declared dead, while two others, Sahdev Chaudhary (25) and Firoz (37), were rescued with injuries. Both injured persons were reported stable.
The building was allegedly being constructed without the requisite approval on a 50-square-metre plot. An MCD official had said no building plan was sanctioned for the structure.
The civic body had also said the construction had reached the third floor and the building collapsed while the roof slab was being laid. The material used was non-engineered and had not set properly, the official said.
In June, the Delhi Police flagged unauthorised construction at the property. In a communication dated June 15, the SHO of Hauz Qazi police station informed the MCD’s City Sadar Paharganj Zone about the construction work and identified the landowner and contractor as Furkan.