Delhi Satya Niketan Building Collapse: PG Owner Hariram Gupta and Wife Sent to 14-Day Judicial Custody
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday sent owner of Satya Niketan paying guest accommodation Hariram Gupta and his wife Urmila Gupta to judicial custody for 14 days after their arrest in connection with a building collapse that killed seven persons. Their son Mahesh Gupta was remanded to police custody for two days. Three others were killed in the accident and three survivors are fighting for life.
Passing the remand order, Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhavya Kharail said Gupta Sr. and Urmila allegedly received money from tenants for running an unauthorised PG in a residential building and did not ensure that it was safe for accommodation.
The building on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg near Delhi University‘s South campus collapsed on September 6. It was being converted into a PG accommodation for boys when it caved in during repair works. Students and labourers working at the site are among those who have died.
A PIL plea has been filed in Delhi High Court seeking ₹1 crore compensation for next of kin of the victims of the building collapse apart from directing structural audit of all PG accommodations/ hostels.
A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia took note of the plea on Monday and told the government it cannot wash its hands off the incident.
“The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) shall conduct an inquiry at the highest level to ascertain if the permission given for construction of the said building which collapsed was validly obtained or otherwise,” the Court said, adding that the civic agency should fix the responsibility of the officers for such a lapse and inform the Court about the action proposed against the officers concerned.
