Delhi Police lodge FIR in Nabi Karim building collapse that killed 3

At 6.20pm on Saturday, a 65-year-old contractor and two labourers died while working in the basement of a hotel site when a wall caved in and led to their deaths

Delhi Police on Sunday lodged an FIR against the owner of an under-construction building in Nabi Karim, where three men died after a wall collapsed due to gusty winds and rain a day before, and detained him for questioning over alleged negligence. Police said they would ask civic authorities to conduct an inspection.

Workers assess the damage and fix the roof at the New Ashok Nagar RRTS station. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

An officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “It was raining heavily and the labourers had stopped working. However, as soon as the rain subsided, the contractor and workers resumed work. The thick wall was not steady; it caved in and killed the three men.”

Police said they are questioning the owner and labourers, and no arrest has been made yet. “The investigation is against him on charges of causing death by negligence and negligent conduct with regard to repairing buildings. We have questioned him and taken his statement. We will also write to MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) on Monday and conduct an inspection to ascertain if the hotel building has violated any norms,” a second officer, requesting anonymity, said.

At 6.20pm on Saturday, a 65-year-old contractor and two labourers died while working in the basement of a hotel site when a wall caved in and led to their deaths. A third labourer, who was injured, is undergoing treatment, police said.

The deceased were identified as Prabhu Kumar, 65, the contractor, and his employees Niranjan Kumar, 40, and Roshan Kumar, 35. Police said the wall inside the basement was around 20-30 feet long and the workers were trapped under it. Police found that the labourers had been working at the site for around two months without safety gear.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Harsha Vardhan said legal action is being taken as per procedure.

RRTS to resume on Tuesday at New Ashok Nagar station

Operations of the RRTS rail at the New Ashok Nagar station on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor remained suspended on Sunday due to damage to the station’s roof during the storm on Saturday. An NCRTC official on Sunday said the station did not suffer any further damage, but the damage to the roof led to the suspension of operations.

The official said operations may resume from Tuesday. “Operations at the New Ashok Nagar Namo Bharat Station, which were temporarily suspended following the weather-related damage, may resume from 6am day after tomorrow (20th May) in line with standard service timings, subject to successful completion of safety trial runs scheduled for tomorrow,” the official said.

The official said that corrective measures were being initiated to ensure that there was no repeat of the incident.

On Saturday, a portion of the tin roof at the New Ashok Nagar Station was damaged in an intense windstorm. “As a precautionary measure, operations at New Ashok Nagar station were immediately stopped for the time being. No injuries have been reported in connection with the incident. A detailed investigation is underway, and necessary rectification measures are being initiated to prevent any recurrence,” the statement said.

The Aam Aadmi Party attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government.

AAP’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj, sharing a video of the collapsed roof on social media platform X, posted: “This is the pre-monsoon report card of BJP’s four-engine government in Delhi: 5 deaths in the first spell of rain in May, 4 more in Saturday’s storm. A total of 9 people have lost their lives, and the monsoon hasn’t even started yet.”

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit back at the AAP, terming their statements an attempt to defame the BJP government by “resorting to falsehoods”.

The Delhi BJP president said the RRTS administration clarified on Saturday evening that only a small tin shed was blown away due to the strong storm, and the rest of the station’s infrastructure remained unaffected. Sachdeva said it was “unfortunate” that AAP leaders were repeatedly claiming on social media that the New Ashok Nagar Rapid Rail Station has been “destroyed”.