Three-storey building collapses in Delhi's Bada Hindu Rao area; 1 dead

A 46-year-old man was killed after a three-storey commercial building collapsed in Delhi's Bara Hindu Rao area in the early hours of Friday, an official said.

Manoj Sharma, an employee at one of the shops housed in the building, was trapped under the rubble of the collapsed structure. He was pulled out of the debris and taken to the Hindu Rao Hospital, where he was later declared dead, the official said.

He said Sharma had been an employee of the shop for nearly three decades.

Officials said that a truck parked in front of the building was also severely damaged.

According to the Delhi Fire Services, a call about the building collapse near Mithai Pull at Lohia Chowk was received at 1:56 am. Three fire tenders were rushed to the site.

By 6:50 am, fire officials reported that the "ground-plus-two (G+2) structure comprising three shops and godowns had collapsed". The shops were on the ground floor, and the storage areas were on the upper floors  "The shops formed part of the Azad Market cluster and primarily sold bags and canvas cloth," Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said.

Sharma was working at shop number 7A owned by Gulshan Mahajan. "He had been employed there for around 30 years," the DCP said, adding there was no report of any other casualty of death.

A case is being registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 106(1) (causing death by negligence) and 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings), and a probe has been initiated to ascertain the cause of the collapse.