5 Killed in Pune Wall Collapse, Builders Booked for Culpable Homicide

Pune: At least 15 people, including four children, were killed and two others injured here on Saturday when a portion of a 22-ft high compound wall of a housing society collapsed on adjoining shanties following incessant rains, trapping the sleeping families under the debris, officials said. The dead were labourers, mostly from Bihar, who were living in makeshift shelters at the under-construction residential project where deep excavation work was underway.

A case of culpable homicide was registered against developers of two residential projects, site engineers and labour contractors in connection with the Kondhwa wall collpase, an officer said.

The deaths occurred when a portion of the compound wall of a housing society -- Alcon Stylus -- caved in and fell on shanties located at its base following incessant rains, trapping the sleeping families under the debris.

According to officials, three persons were rescued, out of which two are undergoing treatment.

The accused builders are identified as Jagdishprasad Agarwal (64), Sachin Agarwal (34), Rajesh Jagdishprasad Agarwal (27) Vivek Agarwal (21) and Vipul Agarwal (21) of Alcon Landmarks, and Pankaj Vora, Suresh Shah and Rashmikant Gandhi of Kanchan Royal Exotica project for which excavation work was going on, a police officer said.

They are booked under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), he said.

"The name of the site where the excavation work was going on is Kanchan Royal Exotica. Vora, Shah and Gandhi are the partners in the project," he said, adding that no arrest is made so far.

The victims of the incident, which took place between 1.30 am and 1.45 am, who were labourers, and their family members were living in the makeshift shelters at the site of the under-construction residential project -- Kanchan Royal Exotica -- where deep excavation work was underway.

Earlier in the day, Pune Municipal Corporation commissioner Saurabh Rao said it appears that the soil may have loosened due to heavy rain coupled with the excavation work that was carried out "irresponsibly" close to the retaining wall of the housing society.

The intensity of the impact increased as many cars parked along the wall inside the society too fell on the shanties, officials said.

A Pune district administration official said that arrangements would be made to send bodies of the deceased to their native places after postmortem.

Meanwhile, residents of the housing society have claimed that they had sounded an alert with the developer about the quality of the retaining wall and raised the issue in February this year, but the builder failed to take any action.

Pune had received 73.1 millimetres of rain on Friday, the second highest rainfall in June since 2010.

Expressing grief over loss of lives, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered an inquiry into the incident. The state government has announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of the deceased, an official said.

"There are set guidelines and dos and don'ts when permission is given for constructing a building. According to preliminary investigation, deep excavation was being carried out in an irresponsible manner at the site. The digging work was going on almost near the wall," the civic chief said.

He said a five-member committee comprising additional collector, officials of Building Permission department of the municipal corporation, labour department and an independent structural expert from the College of Engineering, has been set up to probe the incident.

"The committee will submit its report in the next seven days, and action will be taken against those responsible for the mishap as per findings of the report," he said.

Meanwhile, State Congress chief Ashok Chavan urged the Maharashtra government to extend all help to families of the dead and injured.

Pune district officials said ex gratia will be given to the next of kin of the deceased as per provisions of the Disaster Management Act.