Chawri Bazaar collapse: Six bodies recovered, building owner and contractors held

The death toll in the Chawri Bazaar building collapse in Delhi rose to six, with police arresting the building owner and three contractors. The under-construction structure was allegedly unsafe, while the civic body suspended two engineers

New Delhi: The owner of the three-storey building that collapsed in Delhi’s Chawri Bazaar area, along with three contractors, has been arrested, with the death toll in the incident climbing to six, police said.

Officials said six bodies had been recovered so far during rescue operations at the site.

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Five of the six deceased — Sanjeet Kumar, Pankaj Sharma, Shantu, Dinesh Sah and Kishori Sah — hailed from Bihar. While the first four were from Khagaria district, Kishori Sah was a resident of Saharsa district.

Another victim, Vipin Ram, resided in Delhi’s Fazilpur area.

Meanwhile, police said the building owner, Saimullah alias Ayub, a Delhi resident, had been arrested.

In addition, three contractors were also arrested after being apprehended from Sirohi village in Faridabad, officials said.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Siraj, Tajuddin and Furkan, all residents of the national capital.

An FIR dated November 5 has been registered against all four accused at Hauz Qazi police station under Sections 105, 290, 125(a) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The three-storey under-construction building collapsed on Thursday.

According to officials, information about the collapse was received at 9.50 am from Gali Sitara, near Chawri Bazaar Metro Station.

Subsequently, a massive rescue operation involving the Delhi Police, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Fire Services and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was launched.

Two bodies were recovered on Thursday, while one injured person was rescued and taken to hospital for treatment.

According to the police, the construction work underway at the building was illegal and the structure was unsafe.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation suspended its Junior Engineer (JE) and Assistant Engineer (AE), and an FIR was registered against the contractor following the incident.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta assured that every possible effort would be made to rescue those trapped under the debris.

She said an investigation was underway and strict action would be taken against those responsible.