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2 dead in Kota building collapse; FIR filed against restaurant owner
The restaurant owner was booked under sections 105 and 110 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the building collapse
The Kota police on Sunday filed a first information report (FIR) against a restaurant owner after his three-storey building collapsed, killing two teenagers and injuring 10 others.
The restaurant owner, Muhammed Daud, was booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), following a complaint from a staff member who had been trapped in the ruins.
The incident occurred at 9 p.m. on Saturday in the Talawandi neighbourhood of Kota, a hub for students preparing for competitive exams. The victims, identified as Anaranya Karmakar, 18, a student from West Bengal, and Laxman Gujarati, 15, a local resident, were killed instantly when the structure gave way while they were dining with friends.
The collapse triggered a desperate, five-hour rescue operation involving local police and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). In total, 13 people were pulled from the wreckage and 10 survivors were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Yogesh Sharma, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), said municipal officials had repeatedly issued repair notices to the owner. “Prima facie, the restaurant building was quite old, and the local municipality had issued a notice several times to the owner to repair the building, which was ignored,” Sharma said, confirming that the FIR was registered on a complaint from a restaurant staffer.
“An FSL [Forensic Science Laboratory] team has visited the spot on Sunday morning and examined it thoroughly,” Sharma said, adding that Daud would soon be summoned for interrogation.
Investigators are examining whether nearby construction may have contributed to the disaster. Sharma said the construction work in that building had probably caused some frequent vibration in the building that collapsed.
Officials noted that a building adjacent to the restaurant had been under construction for several days.
