Three BMC officials arrested in building collapse case

Three suspended officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation were arrested in connection with the residential building collapse here which claimed 61 lives, taking the total number of arrests in the case to four.
"Planning and Design Department's (Markets) deputy superintendent Prithviraj Chavan, assistant engineer Rahul Jadhav and inspector Jamal Kazi have been arrested last night," senior inspector Rajendra Nagbhirey of Sewri police station told PTI here today.
"The tragic incident occurred because of the carelessness of these arrested officials, who ought to have taken precautions and alerted the administration about the weak condition of the building which collapsed," the officer said.

On Sunday, the police had arrested Ashok Mehta, the owner of Mamamiya Decorators, for "renovating" his office-cum-warehouse on the ground floor of the building, thus causing its collapse.
Besides Mehta, the three Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials were also booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC, among others.
Following the building collapse on Friday, the city's civic body had suspended seven officers, including these three arrested officials.

The five-storeyed BMC building located on Brahmadev Khot Marg near the Dockyard Road railway station collapsed on Friday morning.