Police arrest 3 members of family that owned Satya Niketan building; toll 7

NEW DELHI,  (IANS): The over 24-hour rescue operation at the collapsed Satya Niketan PG building in south Delhi ended on Monday evening with the death toll touching seven and the Delhi Police arresting the 75-year-old building owner Urmila and her two family members.

As many as 12 people were pulled out of the debris by rescue teams since the incident that took place around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday, and out of them, seven died during treatment, said a police official.

“The families of the deceased have been handed over the mortal remains,” said an official.

The deceased were identified as Abhishek, 20, a resident of Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh; Yuvraj Soni, 20, of Durg in Chhattisgarh; Pawan, 17, from Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh; Arpit Jahaj, 19, of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh; Akshat Singh Yadav,18, of Katni in Madhya Pradesh; and Surinder Singh, 75, a labourer. The identity of one deceased is yet to be established.

The injured were identified as Asgar Ali, 30, Neeraj Bawa, 19, Aditya Kumar, 19, Nitish Chib, 19, and Md. Ayan, 18. Officials said all five are undergoing treatment, with three of them in critical condition.

The police have arrested three, including the building owner and beneficiaries – owner 75-year-old Urmila, her 81-year-old husband and retired IAF sergeant Hariram and their 52-year-old son and hardware businessman Mahesh.

The police also launched a hunt for the PG operators and labour contractor. Their role will also be examined in the case, and accordingly action will be taken, said a police official.

The police said during investigation it was found that the PG building named ‘Hostel Daze’ was registered in the name of Urmila.

It was being managed and run by her husband and son, the police said, adding that the building’s electricity connection on two floors was in Hariram’s name.

In a crackdown after the incident, the MCD suspended five officials. The suspended employees included South Zone officials -- Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar, Superintending Engineer (SE) Ranvir Singh, Executive Engineer (EE) Lalit Kumar Goel, Assistant Engineer (AE) Sunil Chauhan and Junior Engineer (JE) Ashish Kumar.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who revisited the collapse site on Tuesday morning to review rescue work, vowed not to spare anyone found guilty and directed civic agency officials to launch a citywide drive to seal buildings with unauthorised fifth floors.

She also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the tragedy.

Later in the evening, Lieutenant Governor T.S. Sandhu reviewed the mechanism for enforcement against unsafe buildings and augmentation of accommodation for students in the backdrop of a PG building’s collapse.

The L-G also directed urban development officials to lead a committee to review institutional PG guidelines.

At the meeting, attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and senior officials, the Lieutenant Governor emphasised strict enforcement against unsafe buildings, clear institutional accountability, and an emergency mechanism under DDMA for swift grievance redressal and crisis coordination.

The building collapse also caught the attention of the Delhi High Court, which expressed serious concern over the safety of students living in paying guest (PG) accommodations in the national Capital.

The court issued notices to Delhi University, MCD, Delhi government, Centre and Delhi Police on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed after the collapse of a five-storeyed PG building and fixed September 25 for the next hearing.