Greater Noida: The partner of the
developer of a six-storey building that collapsed in
Shahberi, Qasim Khan, was the fifth accused to be
arrested on Thursday.
Khan, a resident of Delhi, was nabbed near Tigdi roundabout in Bisrakh,
police said. Meanwhile, the
NDRF teams also pulled out one more body, taking the death toll to nine.
While 70% of debris has been cleared from the spot, rescuers have not ruled out the possibility of more people still remaining buried, an NDRF spokesperson said.
Akhilesh Tripathi, SHO of Bisrakh police station, said Khan worked for Sajid, the developer of the six-storey building that triggered the twin collapse in Shahberi. “He had been absconding since the collapse. On Thursday, we received information about his movement and deployed police personnel. We have arrested him and are questioning him about his accomplices,” the SHO said, adding the accused also worked as a broker to sell flats to buyers.
On Wednesday, 24 persons were booked and a developer, Ganga Shankar Dwivedi, and three brokers — Dinesh, Sanjeev Kumar and Shayam Pathak — were arrested in connection with the building collapse. All the accused have been booked under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 337 & 338 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50) and 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.
Police sources also said that they were conducting searches to arrest one of the accused, Sonu Pathak, named in the FIR.
Though the eight
bodies were claimed by their families by Wednesday night, the ninth victim was identified as Naushad Ahmed, a painter working with Qasim Khan, on Thursday evening. Naushad is the brother of Shamshad, another painter whose body was identified on Wednesday.
Their father, Mohammed Mukhteer, who was accompanied by Naushad’s wife Shabeena Bano and his two kids, broke down after seeing the body. He told TOI that Shamshad was to get married in November. “We had chosen a girl for him and were planning to fix a date for his wedding. His sister was to get married in November for which he had been collecting money. All of us were dependent on them,” he said.
Apart from Naushad (30), another body was identified as another painter, Mohammed Movin, also known as Sonu. Among the three bodies identified on Wednesday morning, one was that of 18-year-old Mohammed Mujahid, a resident of Purnia district in Bihar.
Vasant Pavde, media incharge, of NDRF
Ghaziabad, told TOI that 70% of the debris had been cleared from the spot by rescuers till 8 pm on Thursday. “No new families have come for identification. We, however, cannot rule out the possibility of more victims being buried in the debris,” he said.
The NDRF men have, however, not ruled out the possibility of more victims still remaining buried in the debris, though chances of anyone surviving after 48 hours of the collapse are almost nil.
