Raigad Building Collapse: FIR against 5 persons, building developer arrested

16:39 August 26

Raigad building collapse: FIR against 5 persons, one held

A day after a five-storey building collapsed in Mahad town of Raigad district in Maharashtra, police have booked five persons on various charges on Wednesday.

An FIR has been registered at Mahad city police station against the builder and four others.

According to FIR, the builder along with the architect and the RCC consultant were responsible for constructing the building using inferior material and without proper attention.

Two accused persons have been identified as Farooq Kazi, builder and Bahubali Dhamane, developer of the building. While Bahubali has been arrested and taken into custody for five days, Farooq Kazi is at large. Police launched a manhunt to nab him. Meanwhile, Mahad police have started interrogating Faruk Kazi's son, Taloja in New Mumbai.

15:06 August 26

Mahad building collapse: Excavator operator praised for 'non-stop' work

Mumbai:An operator of a heavy-duty excavator is being praised by the authorities and locals of Mahad town in Maharashtra's Raigad district, as he has been working virtually non-stop to clear the debris of a building that collapsed on Monday evening, killing 15 people.

In fact, although the authorities called off the rescue operation around 11.30 am on Wednesday, his work of removing the rubble from the site is still on.

The operator, Kishore Bhagwat Lokhande, 24, who stays with his parents and two siblings near the bus stand in Mahad, said he got a call on Monday evening from his office, asking him to rush to Kajalpura area as a five-storey building has collapsed.

"I was asked to operate a Poclain machine to remove debris from the site. Since then, my work is on and still continues as a lot of debris is yet to be cleared from the site," Lokhande said.

Lokhande said that after watching the collapsed building, rubble and bodies of victims, he did not feel like eating much.

"I ate only two samosas on Tuesday afternoon and ''khichadi'' at night. Due to the tragedy, I did not feel like eating much. Besides, I felt that I can use that time in the rescue operation," he said.

Lokhande, who hails from Patoda in Beed district of Marathwada, said he came to Mumbai a few years ago in search of a job.

"I have been operating these machines since the last six years," he said.

Lokhande said has been working for the Mumbai-Goa highway project since last few months. 

11:29 August 26

Death toll rises to 16

Death toll in the building collapse incident has risen to 16(7 male and 9 female). The rescue teams comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police are working round-the-clock to save those stuck under the debris.

09:18 August 26

Death toll rises to 15, rescue operation underway

With the recovery of two more bodies, the death toll in the building collapse incident in Maharashtra's Raigad district reached 15 on Wednesday, a police official said. There is no likelihood of any more people buried under the rubble, the official said.
"The bodies of a 70-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were recovered in the early hours. This took the death toll in the incident to 15," Superintendent of Police, Raigad.

The incident took place when a five-storey residential building collapsed in a residential area of Mahad in Maharashtra's Raigad district on August 24.

Maharashtra Minister Vijay Wadettiwar has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the family of each person killed in the Raigad building collapse incident. An FIR was registered against five people earlier on Tuesday at Mahad city police station in the incident.

According to the police, the FIR has been registered under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304-A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life) and 34 (acts by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

08:44 August 26

Rescue operation still underway after 36 hours
Officials of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are still engaged in search and rescue operations even after 36 hours of the mishap. One person is still feared trapped under the debris. Three teams of NDRF along with local district administration officials are at the accident spot. 

07:19 August 26

Elderly woman rescued after 26 hours of operation

A 65-year-old woman was rescued by the NDRF team after spending 26 hours trapped under the debris of concrete and steel. Meharunnisa Kazi was rescued from a small hole at a site where a five-storey stood before it collapsed in Maharashtra's Raigad. She was later shifted to a government hospital for medical attention. 

06:39 August 26

With one more fresh death reported in Raigad, the death roll has risen to 15. One person is still trapped under the debris and search operations are underway.

Mumbai:Fourteen people have died and one person is still missing after a residential building collapsed in Maharashtra's Raigad district on Monday evening. The rescue operation has been going on for more than 24 hours now. A four-year-old boy and a 60- year-old woman were rescued on Tuesday from the rubble of
a five-storey building.
         
The dead include the rescued boy's 30-year-old mother and two sisters, aged seven and two years, police said earlier. A man had died of cardiac arrest on Monday night after he was hit by a stone from the falling building, police said.
 

The dead - five men and five women - include two teenagers, police said. So far nine persons have been rescued. They are undergoing treatment.
Tareq Garden, the five-storey building, collapsed on Monday evening. Police on Tuesday registered an offence against five persons, including builder and architect.
         

The offence was registered against builder Farooq Kazi, RCC consultant Bahubali Dhamne and architect Gaurav Shah under sections 304 (culpable homicide), 304A (causing death by negligence) and 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC, a police official said. 

With PTI inputs