Old Delhi collapse toll jumps to 6; owner held
New Delhi, Nov. 8 -- Rescuers pulled four more bodies from the debris of the collapsed building in old Delhi's Chawri Bazar on Saturday, taking the death toll to six, and police announced they had arrested the building's owner.
The first of the day's bodies, recovered around 3am, was identified as Pankaj Sharma, whose family had been searching for him since the collapse. Rescuers found the body of Shantu in the afternoon and sent it by ambulance to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The bodies of Vipin Ram and Dinesh Sah were recovered in the evening.
Rescue operations were still under way at the time of filing. The owner was identified as Saimullah alias Ayub, a resident of Gali Sitara near Ajmeri Gate.
The three-storey building, in Gali Sitara near Chawri Bazar Metro station, reportedly came down in two stages around 9.30am on Thursday while construction was under way, trapping workers beneath the debris.
Eight people have been pulled out so far. Six of them died and two were injured.
The bodies of Kishori, 40, and Sanjeet, 45, were recovered earlier. The injured, Sahdev Chaudhary, 25, and Firoz, 37, have been treated and are stable, officials said.
Sharma was his family's sole breadwinner, said his brother Shambhu Kumar, 41.
Deputy commissioner of police (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said Vipin Ram, Dinesh Sah and Shantu were all in their late 40s and originally from Bihar.
"We had informed the contractors that the lintel had not dried up and we cannot put another one... to support the lintel, more cement and wood is required... but they asked us to continue saying that the cost would increase," he said.
Police arrested three contractors, all residents of the Ajmeri Gate area, from Sirohi village in Faridabad's Dauj tehsil in the early hours of Friday, DCP Singh said.
The FIR names Tajuddin and Furkan as accused. It invokes sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings), 125(a) (negligent act with respect to buildings) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)....
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