Bhiwandi building collapse: 70-year-old booked for two deaths

Five rooms were built by in the one storey structure, which increased the load on the building and it was not maintained adequately for the safety of the residents, concluded the police investigation

BHIWANDI:

A 40 year old woman and an eight month old girl were killed and five others injured after a building partially collapsed at Gauri Pada in Bhiwandi,in Thane, in Mumbai, India, on,Sunday, September, 03, 2023. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

The Bhoiwada police in Bhiwandi on Tuesday booked a case against a 70-year-old woman in connection to the deaths of a woman and an eight-month-old baby girl in a partial building collapse.

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Five other family members had suffered injuries when a part of a one-storied residential building collapsed in Bhiwandi on September 3 at Gauri Pada near Dhobi Talao, Dargah Road.

The police said that the accused has been identified as Kaneej Fatima Abdul Bari Momin, 70, who lived with her family in Bhiwandi.

The accused’s husband Abdul Bari, who passed away a few years ago, had bought leased the land from Abdul Aziz Faki Chhunawala in 1984 and constructed the ground plus two storey building on the front side, while ground plus one storied building at the back. Five rooms were built by Bari in the one storey structure, which increased the load on the building and it was not maintained adequately for the safety of the residents, said the police

The legal heir of Abdul Bari is his wife Kaneej Fatima, who did not care for the building’s maintenance which led to the building collapse, concluded the police investigation. 40-year-old Ujhama Atif Momim, and eight-month old Tasnim Mousar Momin were killed in the incident, while Abdul Latif Momin, 65, Farzana Abdul Latif Momin, 50, Bushra Atif Momin, 32, Adima Atif Momin, 7, and Urusha Atif Momin were injured.

According to police officials, the road-facing façade of the building has a ground floor and two storeys, with power loom units located on the ground floor, while the rear side had a ground-plus-one-storeyed structure. While the front portion and power loom units were safe, the rear portion collapsed shortly after midnight, trapping people under the debris for over an hour.

Ankur Bangar, Senior Police Inspector, Bhoiwada Police Station said, “We booked a case under section 304(2), 337,338,427 of the Indian Penal Code, and no arrest has been made yet.”