Months before Saket building collapse, owner warned about illegal construction

The four-storey building was located in Said-ul-Ajaib village near the Saket Metro Station.

The chargesheet alleges that owner Karamvir Sejwal (71) had constructed the building in 2014, and flouted building norms even then, including not having a building plan, said a police officer. Sejwal was traced to his farmhouse in Southwest Delhi’s Vasant Kunj two days after the incident and arrested, police said.

The chargesheet, according to sources, also alleges that a structural stability assessment had not been done before Sejwal hired contractors Manish Khatri and Avinash to build two additional floors atop the building. Both Khatri and Avinash have also been named in the chargesheet.

The duo were allegedly given a contract of Rs 1.8 crore in January to build two halls, but allegedly did not involve architects before laying out new pillars to connect the floors to the already weak building.

“The accused knew that they were flouting norms and were using substandard material in an already weak structure.
They were warned by one of the deceased and her husband about it as well, and still went ahead with the construction,” said a police officer.

About three months before the incident, work started on constructing two additional floors on the building— which housed a co-working space and a commercial office—allegedly against the permissible limit.

On May 30, while construction work was ongoing, the building collapsed like a house of cards, killing six and injuring eight. The debris fell on an adjacent tin shed, which housed Parvati’s makeshift eatery for students studying in a medical coaching centre on the third floor of the building.

Other deceased were identified as Ravi (24), Kapil (28), Nalin Ray (23), Alok (24), Ekta (24), and Parvati (35). All the dead were in the canteen at the time.

Parvati’s eatery was said to have been the go-to place for students living as paying guests and tenants in the area. Parvati “aunty” was popular among the youngsters, as much for the parathas her kitchen served as for her care and affection.

Even as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) suspended two junior officials, Assistant Engineer Sudesh Singh Chauhan and Junior Engineer Amar Jain, of Building Department 2 of its South Zone jurisdiction, none of them find a mention in the chargesheet, claims another officer. However, senior officers said that a supplementary chargesheet will be filed, detailing the role of government departments in the collapse.