Five months after a building in Fort collapsed, MRA Marg Police has registered an offence of causing death by negligence against the building's trustee. A part of Bhanushali building collapsed on July 16 last year. 10 people died and two others were injured. The civic body and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) had already granted permission for the building's repair work. However, the trustee did not repair the building, which led to the accident, said the police.
According to the officials, nearly one-third portion of the six storey cessed building collapsed on July 16 last year. Five months after the tragedy, MRA Marg Police booked the building's trustee Moti Bhatiya under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections of 304A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any act rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others). Police is yet to make any arrest in the case.
The offence was registered on the complaint of Right To Information (RTI) activist Sanjay Gurav who had also approached the Bombay High Court for registration of an offence. "The building's owner had got necessary permissions from MHADA as well as BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). If the repair work was carried in time, the tragedy could have been averted,” said Gurav.
According to the officials, there were 27 residential tenants and 37 commercial tenants in the 100-year-old building. The commercial shops include stationary, grocery and medical shops.
According to the officials, MHADA had given a no-objection certificate to undertake the building's repair work. The civic body had also given necessary permissions and required Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) and Commencement certificate (CC) to go ahead with the repair work.
Before the tragic accident, the owner and tenants had decided to undertake the repair. However, they could not go ahead due to the outbreak of coronavirus and subsequent lockdown, said the police.
