Mumbai building collapse: Police register case of accidental death, but do not rule out negligence

Mumbai police will inquire whether illegal alterations had been made to the structure

The JJ Marg police have registered a case of accidental death and launched an investigation into the collapse, in which 23 were killed.

Rescue operations underway on Thursday.(Anshuman Poyrekar/HT)

“We have registered a case of accidental death. We will proceed with investigations keeping in mind that the building was quite old. However, we will also check for negligence,” deputy commissioner of police Manoj Sharma (zone 1).

Hussaini, a six-storey, 117-year-old building on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, collapsed around 9 am on Thursday, leading to chaos among the locals. Several residents were trapped under debris. Police will inquire whether illegal alterations had been made to the structure.

“We will record the statements of the residents and also talk to MHADA officials. We will check how many times tenants were asked to evacuate the building,” said an officer from the JJ Marg police station, who did not wish to be identified.The police will also check CCTV camera footage of the area. “We will see if any of the neighbouring buildings’ CCTV cameras captured the incident. We will ask eye-witnesses. to give us a statement. We will also check any renovation work was carried out, owing to which the buildings pillars may have become weak,” said an officer.

As of now, police believe that the heavy rains and floods, which occurred on Tuesday, weakened the base of the building and led to the collapse.