GHAZIABAD: Two developers of the
Ghaziabad building that collapsed on July 22, killing two people, were arrested on Sunday and have reportedly told police they had used low-quality cement during construction.
The two men, identified as Prempal Shisodiya and Satish Tomar, were among the six partners who were constructing the illegal five-storeyed building. Police said the six had floated a company,
Samyak Developers, and had undertaken construction work in other parts of the city as well.
Ghaziabad SP (rural) Arvind Maurya, who is heading the SIT that arrested the duo, said Prempal and Satish were not mentioned in the FIR that was registered in the case, but their role had cropped up during investigation.
“The accused have told interrogators they had been using extremely low-grade cement for construction even though the steel structure was strong. We are trying to verify if the six builders had got the company registered. Investigations so far have revealed that the kingpin of this illegal construction lobby is one Prasanjeet Gautam. We are looking for him,” Maurya said.
The SIT had earlier arrested two of the developers, Manish Goyal and Dinesh Kumar. Only Dinesh, who is purportedly the owner of the plot on which the building was being constructed, had been named in the FIR. Kishanpal Tomar and Mukesh Tomar are also mentioned as accused in the FIR.
On Sunday, another FIR was registered against Kishanpal and three others for fraud and cheating.
Meanwhile, as part of its crackdown on illegal buildings, the Ghaziabad Development Authority sealed 14 illegal buildings in the city on Sunday, taking the total number of buildings sealed to 292 across the
district. Eight of the buildings were sealed in the Hindon floodplains abutting Indirapuram on Sunday.
(Representative image)
