Mumbai:
Five days after a part of the five-storey ill-fated building, Aftab Manzil, collapsed, a First Information Report (FIR) against seven persons has been registered by the Mumbai Police.
All the accused have been booked under sections - 288 (negligence to conduct with respect to pulling down or repair of the building), 304 (culpable homicide), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety), 338 (grievous hurt), 34 (common intention), 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
While addressing a press conference, the residents blamed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation' (BMC) for negligence. They alleged that the BMC failed to act on their complaints despite them sending numerous letters to the municipality since November 2008 about the weakening of the building and the structural changes made by the car showroom owner, Sandeep Bafna.
Rizwan Merchant, along with the other residents of the building who lost their kin in the accident addressed the media on Monday and stated that Mr Bafna had stripped off the basement pillars of the building, reducing its width, and also demolished the base wall to fit glass for his showroom.
"These changes weakened the building. After these changes in 2008, several requests were made to the owner brothers Furniturwalas and Iqbal Ibrahim and Bafna to get the repairs done as soon as possible but they paid no heed towards our complaints," Rizwan Merchant told the press.
Mr Merchant added, "We took the advice of famous structural engineer Chetan Raikar. Raikar had suggested for immediate repair with a proper technique to strengthen the pillars, but they did nothing. It was then we filed a complaint with BMC."
The residents alleged that the BMC officials colluded with the accused and failed to take any action.
The BMC on its part says no official complaint was ever received about the changes made to the structure of the building. "In the past we had received only a single complaint pertaining to illegal hoardings being put up on the building and action was taken accordingly," said a BMC official.
Shaken by the incident, Mr Merchant has vowed to start a movement to fix accountability or the complaints received against illegal structural changes and to ensure that mushrooming illegal constructions don't lead to the loss of human life.