Thane building collapse: nine arrested

Municipal Corporation workers demolish illegal buildings in the wake of the recent building collapse, in Thane on 6th April 2013.

Within 24 hours, the Thane police arrested nine persons including the suspended deputy municipal commissioner, the two builders and police and municipal officials for the building collapse in Shilphata which killed 74.

Thane police commissioner K P Raghuvanshi told the media that all nine have been remanded to police custody for 14 days.

Raids on the houses of the two builders Salim Sheikh and Jamil Qureishi led to documents which provide evidence of payments and dates to the others arrested in the case. The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) is also investigating the matter. Mr Raghuvanshi said there was strong evidence to support the fact that the municipal officials, Deepak Chavan, deputy municipal commissioner, Babasaheb Andhale, assistant municipal commissioner and Kisan Madke, a clerk had received bribes. In addition the builders also paid a Jehangir Syed, a head constable of the nearby Tiger police station.

Raids on Chavan’s house unearthed Rs five lakh in cash and some property papers. The trail led to an agent Jabbar Patel and Afroze Ansari, who was arrested for supplying sub- standard material for construction. Hira Patil, a Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) corporator from the area was also arrested for receiving bribes. He has been since suspended from the party, confirmed spokesperson Nawab Malik.

All the nine arrested have been charged under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 120 B and other provisions of the IPC. Mr Raghuvanshi clarified that the police had not yet applied the murder charge. He said they had to work within the law and right now section 302 of the IPC did not apply. With reference to the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act(MCOCA), the police commissioner said as per the law you need the persons to have one charge sheet filed against them which was not the case here since none of the accused had been associated with any previous offence.

He said the state government and the police had taken a tough stand on the case since 74 people died and whoever responsible will be arrested. He was not going to give anyone a clean chit, he warned. Mr Raghuvanshi said illegal buildings were a big racket and the builders get poor people to stay inside the under construction houses so that they will not be demolished.

According to the papers retrieved from the raids on the builders’ homes, there is clear evidence of payments made to people with dates. Even the survivors are being questioned. The police were also seeking technical support from the Indian Institute of Technology for its investigation and surveys were in progress to find out the exact status of the land where Lucky compound stands.

He did not give an exact figure of bribes but said the transaction was in lakhs of rupees to get this illegal building constructed. Two more buildings owned by the arrested builders were in Lucky Compound and one of them will be demolished, he said. Since the builders had bribed public servants they were also charged with section 13 (1) d of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

He said the police supported the drive against illegal buildings and last year the police force had been sanctioned in 167 cases for protection during eviction.

The municipal officials committed acts of omission and they have been arrested based on evidence. More names will come out.