Despite complaints of cracks, owner continued construction'

Rescuers on Tuesday pulled out five bodies, including two minors, from the wreckage of a building that collapsed in Burari, north Delhi, the previous day, as police filed a first information report (FIR) against the owner of the building, who they said reportedly ignored complaints about the structural integrity of the four-storey flat.

- Aheli Das and Sanjeev K Jha

The five victims were identified as Radhika, 7, Sadhana, 17, Anil Gupta, 42, Mohammad Sarfaraz, 22, and Mohammad Qadir, 40, police said on Tuesday.

The FIR, which HT has seen, was filed under sections 105 (culpable homicide amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 305 (multiple people commit a crime with a common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Yogender Bhati, a builder who lives in the same neighbourhood and is at large.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Raja Banthia said multiple teams have been formed to nab Bhati.

The complainant, Lalta Prasad, was working as a guard in the building for the past eight months and alleged that Bhati ignored a raft of complaints about cracks on the walls and pillars, as well as a purported "tilt" in the building.

Prasad lost two of his daughters, Radhika and Sadhna, in the collapse. He lived in the parking lot with his wife Savita, their seven daughters and four-year-old son, earning ₹9,000 a month.

In the FIR, Prasad said that when he first started working at the building, it only had two floors and that work on the other two began later.

"A few days ago, I saw cracks in the walls on the right side and the pillars of the parking lot. The building also tilted and I apprised Bhati about it. He got them covered by plaster. I told him that the pillars are weak and the building can fall and kill people. He ignored this. And said that he doesn't care if people live or die," he said in the FIR.

Prasad alleged that Bhati berated him, told him off and asked that he "not behave like a contractor".