4 killed in building collapse

Four labourers, including a 25-year-old woman, were killed when part of an under-construction building collapsed in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar on Friday. Police have filed a case and arrested the owner of the building and the contractor.

The building plan for the 200 square metres plot had been sanctioned by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation in June, said the civic body's spokesperson Mukesh Yadav.

According to police, the incident was reported from Hari Nagar L-Block at about 7:30 pm. The deceased have been identified as Khanju, 30, Maya Devi, 25, Ram Charan, 40, and Nanha, 30, while a man named Govardhan sustained serious injuries. All of them hail from Madhya Pradesh.

“Most of the victims were present in the basement of the building at the time of the collapse,” said a police officer. It is suspected that the wall of the basement collapsed on a temporary shed that the labourers slept under, crushing them to death.

A call was made to the police control room after which the fire department was also informed. “Three fire tenders were rushed to the spot for the rescue operations,” a fire officer added. The victims were taken to DDU Hospital, where four of them were declared brought dead.

After initial probe, police have registered a case under sections 304 A (causing death by negligence), 288 (negligent conduct with respect to repairing buildings) and 337 (causing injury by act endangering life) of the Indian Penal Code.

Hari Nagar police have arrested two persons – the building’s owner Subhash Baweja and contractor Prabhati Lal.

In June, 10 persons, including five children and three women, were killed when a four-storey building collapsed in north Delhi's Inderlok. It was the highest death toll in building collapses in the City since the 2010 Lalita Park incident in which at least 67 people were killed and 73 injured.