The Mankhurd Police on Monday arrested the owner and contractor of the unauthorised building that collapsed in Mumbai’s Janata Nagar on Sunday night, killing six people, including five children, and injuring one person.
The ground-plus-three-storey structure collapsed onto a neighbouring ground-floor shanty around 8.30 pm, trapping an entire family under the debris.
Following a complaint lodged by 53-year-old Mohammad Mukhtar Abdul Ali Shaikh, the police registered an FIR under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 3(5) (acts committed with common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Abdul Wahid and Gulam Raza Sayyed.
Both were produced before a court, which remanded them to police custody.
The collapse claimed the lives of Akhtar Jahan (38) and her four children Kaisar (14), Jalaluddin (9), Serajuddin (7) and Anabiya (3). The family’s sole breadwinner, 39-year-old Moinuddin Shah, survived because he had stepped out of the house moments before the building came down.
Another victim was two-year-old Aliya Shaikh, who had gone to play with the Shah children that evening.
Residents alleged that there had been clear warning signs before the collapse. According to neighbours, pieces of the building, including tiles and sections of the structure, had been falling since Friday. They claimed they repeatedly urged the owner to carry out repairs, warning that the building had become unsafe.
However, residents alleged that the owner ignored their concerns and even dismissed their warnings, saying, “Jo hoga dekha jayega, honi ko kaun rok sakta hai” (“Whatever is destined to happen will happen; who can stop fate?”).
The mother of the two-year-old child collapse broke down while speaking to reporters, alleging that elected representatives visit the area only during elections.
“They come here only to ask for votes. After that, nobody comes to see how we are living. No MP, MLA or corporator has ever visited our locality to understand the conditions in Mankhurd,” she said.
The lone survivor, 24-year-old Rehan Ali, suffered a fractured hand and is undergoing treatment in hospital. He lived on the ground floor of the collapsed structure. Ali said his family had noticed fresh cracks in the building on Sunday morning and had begun moving their belongings out.
He had gone back inside to collect one last bag and had just stepped outside when the structure collapsed.
However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakh for the families of each of the deceased.
On Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation demolished a neighbouring structure that was deemed unsafe and cleared the debris from the collapse site.
