Shitap was arrested on July 26 and will be in police custody till August 2. Anil Mandal, supervisor for Ranjit Aagale, an interior designer who had taken the contract for renovation – who’s been absconding since the collapse – was arrested late on Saturday evening.
Sunil Shitap, a Shiv Sena strongman and the main accused for causing collapse of the Sai Siddhi building in Ghatkopar on July 25, in which 17 people were killed, had stepped out minutes before the building crashed.
Shitap was arrested on July 26 and will be in police custody till August 2. Anil Mandal, supervisor for Ranjit Aagale, an interior designer who had taken the contract for renovation – who’s been absconding since the collapse – was arrested late on Saturday evening.
As per the complaint filed by Lalchand Ramchandani, a resident of the building, Shitap left the building a few minutes before it collapsed.
“I was on my way to office at around 10.20 am, when I reached the first floor and saw Shitap leaving his flat in a hurry. I called him but he just waved at me and left the place in his car,” the complaint stated.
“I also left the building and was walking towards my car when I heard people shouting ‘building giri, building giri’ (building is collapsing). Even the labourers had fled from the spot after Shitap. This indicates that Shitap had an idea that building is going to collapse,” Ramchandani alleged.
The complaint further states that Ramchandani also saw labourers creating a spacious hall by removing the walls of three flats on ground floor. They had removed three Reinforced Concrete Column (RCC) pillars from the middle of the ground floor. On Sunday, a shutter was installed at the entrance of the ground floor by breaking the window. “The cashier of the society had alerted Shitap that these changes are dangerous for the foundation of the building when Shitap had allegedly told him that “these are my flats, I will do anything and if any problem arises, I will handle it,” the complainant stated.
Meanwhile, the labourers who were questioned by the police on Saturday, admitted that they were asked to remove the plaster and concrete of the pillars on the ground floor along with walls. According to them, the owner wanted to create a spacious hall by removing the pillars and walls. The cops have also recorded the statement of six labourers and two other employees of Aagale.
The cops said that that the labourers had almost damaged the pillars to an extent that the iron and steel rods from inside of the pillars were visible and had removed at least three pillars and walls from the middle part. The labourers also said that they worked for Aagale, who gave instructions to their supervisor and they just followed.
“We were making more space within the ground floor of the building by removing the walls, along with plaster, and concrete of the pillars. We were total six to seven labourers who were working simultaneously on the pillars and the walls,” said a labourer during the interrogation.
“On Tuesday, when we reached the building, we saw that the side pillars as well as proppings that we had used to give support to slab were bent and some part of that slab was collapsing. We then immediately alerted the residents and left the building,” another labourer told the police.
A police officer confirming the same said, “We have traced two employees of Aagale and are in the process of recording their statements.”
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