Shahberi twin building collapse accused booked under NSA

Shahabudin Khan, 47, had constructed the building without any layout plan approval from the Greater Noida authority.

The district administration of Gautam Budh Nagar has booked the main accused in the Shahberi twin building collapse incident of 2018 under the stringent National Security Act. On July 17, 2018, nine people were killed in the building collapse in Shahberi village.

Greater Noida, India - July 19, 2018: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team continue their rescue operation as they search the debris on the third day of building collapse at Shahberi village, in Greater Noida, India, on Thursday, July 19, 2018. (Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

According to officials, Shahabudin Khan, 47, had constructed the building without any layout plan approval from the Greater Noida authority. Officials have said the accused had used poor quality construction material which led to collapse and loss of nine lives.

Khan will be kept under detention for one year subject to approval from the government. “We have booked the accused under NSA as Shahberi building collapse is a sensitive issue. Khan has already approached the court to seek relief against being booked the Gangster Act and we believe that he can create a public disorder if he is set free,” BN Singh, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

“During the investigation, we got enough evidence to prove that all dealings related to the building constructed by Khan were illegal. The ways in which the land was transferred and the construction took place, without any permission from the authority, were totally illegal. If Khan comes out of jail, it can create a public disorder in Shahberi,” Singh said.

Currently, Khan is in judicial custody and has applied for bail. He was arrested on July 27 this year. “We had run a drive to take action against criminals in the district after which 450 persons were arrested and Khan was one of them. We will continue taking such action against more people in the future,” Vaibhav Krishna, senior superintendent of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

The DM had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the twin building collapse and a final report of 35 pages was submitted to the state government, highlighting laxity on the part of the authority and other officials that allowed illegal construction on a large-scale to take place in the village.

After the incident, the police and the administration conducted investigations and revealed a complex and well thought out nexus of builders, land mafia and contractors which have used the ‘vacuum space’ created in Shahberi due to various litigations currently being heard by the Allahabad high court.

Despite the high court’s orders to maintain status quo in the area, registration of commercial and residential properties has not stopped. Although the district administration, the Greater Noida authority and the police department have been raising concerns over the illegality of constructions in Shahberi, no step has been taken to stop registry of properties in the area.

“We are looking into the matter and, legally, no registry can be stopped. All registries done in Shahberi are nullified as it has no legal standing if the construction itself is done illegally on notified land,” Krishna said.