Delhi building collapse: Owner arrested, police say family has several properties in area

Family members of those trapped, at the building collapse site in New Delhi. (Express photo by Shreya Singhai)

Five medical and engineering graduates and the owner of a makeshift canteen in which the students were eating, were killed after the building on Westend Marg in Saidulajab came down in a heap of rubble — with chunks of concrete crushing the tin-roof eatery.

Saidulajab, an urban village located next to Saket Metro station, is packed with paying guest (PG) accommodations and small private offices, and is a hub for outstation students preparing for medical and engineering entrance examinations.

Structures in this area cannot legally have more than ground plus three storeys. Two additional floors were being built in the building.

Family members and friends of those feared trapped wait anxiously for updates
outside the debris site. (Express Photo by Shreya Singhai)

The MCD has suspended two junior officials, Assistant Engineer Sudesh Singh Chauhan and Junior Engineer Amar Jain, of Building Department 2 of its South Zone jurisdiction.

According to sources, Sejwal’s father was a large local landowner who owned multiple plots in Saidulajab and its surrounding areas, and had divided the properties among his three sons. Police are yet to establish the current ownership of all these individual properties.

The construction of two additional storeys in the building had been ongoing for the past few months, and the work had been contracted to one Manish Khatri, owner of an establishment called Khatri properties. Khatri, who works in areas across southwest Delhi, is yet to be traced.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visits the site. (Express Photo by Shreya Singhai)

“Karambir owns multiple properties in Delhi, and usually lives off the rents from them. He allowed the construction of the additional floors despite knowing about the norms he was flouting,” said a police official.

MCD officials have said that a survey of highrise buildings would be carried out, and “if any violation is found and the explanation is unsatisfactory”, the premises would be sealed, evacuated, or demolished.