This Article is From Jul 06, 2013

Architect arrested in Thane's garment factory collapse

Architect arrested in Thane's garment factory collapse
Mumbai: A day after a building collapsed in Thane near Mumbai killing six people, the architect of the two-storey structure has been arrested. The building in Arihant Compound, which housed a tailoring workshop, collapsed in Bhiwandi yesterday at around 1 am.

A third floor was being added to the old building, even when people working the graveyard shift were present in the building. R Abdul Rehman, the architect who worked on the plans for the building, was arrested today.

The owner of the building has gone missing. "We have filed a case of culpable homicide," Thane Police Commissioner, KP Raghuvanshi had said.

This is the second building collapse in the Thane district in less than a fortnight. Ten people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in Mumbra on June 21. The residents had been warned that the structure was unsafe.

In April, Thane civic chief RA Rajeev had admitted that nearly 90 per cent of buildings were illegal after 74 people were killed when an under-construction building had collapsed in the area. However, civic authorities have failed to evacuate residents of 57 buildings in Thane that have declared unsafe.

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