The Delhi Police on Saturday said the investigation is underway in connection with a four-storey under construction building which collapsed in north Delhi's Azad market, injuring five people on Friday morning.
A senior police official said the investigation is underway to ascertain the role of the person behind the incident, following which necessary action will be taken. The fire department had received a call about the incident at 8.30 am on Friday. A fire official said one fire tender is still at the spot as standby. The work of removing the debris from the area is still underway.
The injured have been identified as Congresh Yadav (31), Nitesh Yadav (29) and Amarjeet Yadav (21), all residents of Khagaria district in Bihar, and Azizur Rehman (44) and Jamil (45), both residents of Sheesh Mahal in Azad Market.
According to Sagar Singh Kalsi, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), north district, no one was staying in the building which may have collapsed due to overloading.The owner of the building has been identified as Ajay Kumar Jain, a resident of Rajinder Nagar, and the builder is Mohammad Muzaffir, a resident of Takiya Rajan Mohalla in Azad Market, he had said.
A case under IPC sections 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) has been registered, he said.
An National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) official, who was present at the spot, had said, "The narrow lane has made the rescue operation difficult for the authorities. We cannot deploy big machines here as we do not have enough space."
Meanwhile, a senior MCD official said that the Building Department of MCD had sanctioned the building plan of the property and permission was granted for construction of the ground floor,first floor, second floor and third floor. “At the time of inspection no deviation and excess coverage was noticed at the site,” said the senior MCD official.“Prima facie according to information gathered at the site it was found that substandard material was used for its construction and there was heavy load of construction material on the building which caused its collapse.
However, the exact cause can be ascertained only after removal of huge amounts of debris at the site,” the senior MCD official said.“MCD has deployed man and machinery from various departments at the collapsed site for removal of debris from the site.
MCD has deployed 10 mini trucks for removal of debris and labourers from maintenance department and dangerous building cell and labour of labour contractor have also been deployed for lifting and removal of debris from the site,” the senior MCD official added.