Municipal officials shielded builder?
The prosecution in the Thane building collapse case informed the trial court that municipal officials, who went to serve notice to builder Abdul Salim Aziz Siddiqui had advised him against accepting it in his name.
The officials had gone to serve him a notice about the condition of the building, two days before the incident, at Shil Phata.
The court was hearing the bail applications of the builder, deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Chavan and other accused in the case. A total of 22 persons have been arrested in the case.
Contending their appeals, prosecutor Hem-lata Deshmukh informed the court that Thane Municipal Corporation officials had gone to the site on April 2 to serve the notice.
However, they advised the builder not to accept the notice in his name. After this, the notice was accepted in the name of Adnan Shaikh. She further said that as the investigation was on, more arrests were expected.
According to the prosecution, the construction was so flawed that the seven-storey building had only two-feet deep foundation.
Urging bail for Siddiqui, senior lawyer Majeed Memon argued that “intention” to kill could not be attributed to the accused. He had no foreknowledge that the building would collapse and he himself lost six members of his family in the collapse, Mr Memon argued.
As prosecution questioned this contention, the court gave Siddiqui time till April 18 to file an affidavit to explain the exact relationship of the six victims with him.
The Mumbra building that collapsed a month ago had killed 74 persons, including children and women.
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