5-storey building falls, techie dies

Sandeep’s father Dilip Mohite (57) said, “Sandeep noticed something like an earthquake around 3 am and raised an alarm. Soon, we rushed down and saw huge cracks on walls. My wife, son, daughter, son-in-law and I moved out. Sandeep went to the basement where we had parked our car and a motorbike. He was about to come out with the car when the building collapsed,” said Dilip.

“We never expected the building to collapse as it was constructed hardly a year ago. We shifted just three months back,” he added. Kalpesh Shah, who lives nearby, informed police and fire brigade around 3.10 am. Police teams, fire brigade and government officials rushed to the spot. All residents, except Sandeep and a woman and a child from from one Gupta family were not accounted for. Initially, we though three persons were stuck in debris. Later, police contacted the Guptas who had left a day earlier. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and fire brigade teams intensified efforts to rescue Sandeep.

Cranes were pressed into action. Around 5 pm,  they reached the spot in the basement where Sandeep was lying unconscious in his car. After he was brought out doctors pronounced him dead. Post-mortem reports confirmed he died due to suffocation.

Police said there were about 20 apartments and eight were occupied by families. Some were flat owners while others were tenants. Police said the building was constructed by Kishorbhai Pitambar Vadgama of V K Associates and the owner of the land was Ranjit Desai.
Government officials confirmed that the building violated construction norms. Officials said the builder did not follow norms and added an extra floor without permission, on weak foundation.

Additional commissioner of police Chandrashekhar Daithankar said, “We detained the builder for inquiry. Investigation will be done to check irregularities in construction.” The process of lodging an offence was on at Sinhagad police station late on Friday.

Prakash Yadav, who was living in flat 502 with his family on rent said, “We heard unusual noise around 3 am. We thought it was an earthquake. We tried to move out. But the door was not opening. So we kicked at the door hard. As soon as the door opened, we moved out and the building collapsed within seconds. We could see cracks developing and widening as we were stepping down the stairs. We are in a state of shock. All our belongings are stuck in debris.”

Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said, “A team of 40 firemen and four fire tenders were pressed into action around 3.30 am. The work of removing the rubble is still on.”

S Ahmed, assistant commandant, NDRF said, “Our three teams were involved in rescue operations since 5.30 am. We used advanced equipment. We called off the operation around 7.30 pm.”