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Mumbai builder & landowner booked for building collapse in Bhiwandi

MUMBAI: Thane police on Sunday filed charges against a builder following the death of two people in a building collapse in Bhiwandi. The owner of the land on which the illegally constructed building stood was also booked.

The builder, Munwar Ahmed Hussain Ansari, was booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code; the landowner, Salim Munisa Ahmed Hussain Ansari, under Section 34 (common intention and common object).


The police said the two accused did not take necessary permissions from the local Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) before constructing the building 10 years ago. They allegedly used inferior quality cement, bricks and sand during the construction process, it said, adding that the foundation was also not strong.

Two people - identified as Siraj Anwar Ansari, 26, and Mohammad Aaqib Ansari, 27 - were killed and five injured after the dilapidated four-storey structure collapsed on Saturday while being evacuated by the fire brigade.

BNMC said on Saturday that at around 1 am, it received a call from the residents of the building in Shanti Nagar area saying chunks of plaster were falling off the walls and ceiling. A fire brigade team immediately went to the area and started moving out the residents. Almost all families had been rescued when the building suddenly collapsed.

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"The walls of the building had developed cracks, so we decided to evacuate it. Almost all resident had been moved out, but a few returned to collect their possessions. That's when the building collapsed," a BNCMC official said.

Siraj and Mohammad were among those who returned. They went in to get their motorcycle from the fourth floor.

There could have been more casualties but police and municipal authorities evacuated the building in just one hour, a police official said, adding there were 22 families living in it. "People wanted more time to retrieve their belongings, something the police were against," the official said.

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