Jalandhar factory collapse: Building contractor in cop net

City police on Saturday arrested the construction contractor of the factory building that collapsed here last Sunday and claimed at least 21 lives. The four-storey building was constructed for a blanket-manufacturing unit of Shital Fibres in 2006.

City police on Saturday arrested the construction contractor of the factory building that collapsed here last Sunday and claimed at least 21 lives. The four-storey building was constructed for a blanket-manufacturing unit of Shital Fibres in 2006. Shital Vij, the factory's owner who is already in police custody, revealed the name of the contractor, Swarn Singh, during interrogation.

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"Vij named Swarn Singh of Gudaipur area, and we arrested him from a road in Jyoti Nagar," Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), headquarters, Navjot Mahal told the media here on Saturday.

Swarn Singh has been booked on the same charges as Vij, under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

While the police said Swarn Singh would be interrogated to find out the exact lapses that caused the collapse, test results of samples collected from the debris of the building could reveal the quality of material used in the construction.

There is, however, still no headway in tracing out Bhushan, the shift incharge who could reveal the exact number of workers present inside the factory when the mishap occurred.

"We are also enquiring how the building was constructed without any sanction of the site map," Mahal added.