Mumbai: Teen labourer among two dead after slab collapses during repair work in Bhandup

Two labourers, including a teen, died on Sunday after a slab collapsed on them when they were working at a ground plus one structure in Khindipada area of Bhandup West. The duo were identified as Rajkumar Ram Sahay, 21, Ramavtar Arjun Yadav, 18.

Meanwhile, the police have registered a suo motu first information report (FIR) against the contractors. Police constable Samadhaan Jhadhav, 34, registered the FIR in the case.

Four people have been booked, including house owner Vijay Maruti Shelar, and contractors Raju Ahmed Shaikh, Mohammad Shaheed Khan and Mohammad Asif Khan. Apparently, the latter three had not taken any precautionary measures or permission before initiating the repair work, said the police.

Police detain three out of four booked

Out of the four, the police have detained three of them. A case has been registered under sections 304A (causing death by negligence), and 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code. Also, the police have asked the BMC not to clear the debris for investigation purposes.

According to the information received from the BMC and Fire Brigade, the fatal mishap was reported at 9.40am. By the time firefighters reached the spot, both the injured were already rushed to the M T Agarwal Hospital where they were declared brought dead.

According to Ajit Kumar Ambi, Assistant Civic Commissioner of S ward which has jurisdiction over Khindipada, a team of firefighters, local cops and officials from the Building and Factory Department reached the spot after receiving an alert from the Disaster Management Cell.

House not properly constructed

He further said that his team noticed that the house wasn't properly constructed and iron sheets were used as roof. Next, the owner was running commercial operations from the property and had undertaken repair work to lay a mezzanine floor. “For this purpose, the owner erected iron roads and laid iron sheets above. Furthermore, he had kept 2,000 bricks on the roof. Owing to the extreme load, iron sheets came down crashing, resulting in two deaths,” said Ambi.

The BMC has put the onus of the incident on the owner, reasoning that he didn't inform the civic body about his repair work. “Hence, he himself is responsible for the incident,” it underlined. Former Corporator Sangita Gosavi said, “The area where the mishap occurred is hilly terrain. Hence, no one should construct one plus structure.”