Six more arrests in Thane building collapse case

Mumbai, April 7: Swooping down on those responsible for the Thane building collapse which claimed 74 lives, the police have arrested six people who include officials whose acts resulted in the tragedy, Home Minister R.R. Patil said Sunday.

Patil said those arrested include Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) suspended deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Chavan, assistant municipal commissioner Babasaheb Andhale, TMC clerk Kiran Madke, municipal corporator Hira Patil and an area beat police official, Sayyed.

A man named Jabbar Patel, who worked as "collector" for DMC Chavan has also been nabbed, while a former assistant municipal commissioner, identified as Thorbole, is absconding, the minister said.

The arrests Sunday were in addition to earlier arrests of two builders, Jamil Qureshi and Salim Shaikh. Police are on the lookout for another builder, Adnan Shaikh, who was involved in building construction work and is currently absconding.

While Qureshi was nabbed from Uttar Pradesh, Salim Shaikh was caught in Thane, where he was holed up Saturday.

A day after Thursday evening's building collapse, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had announced the suspension of DMC Chavan and K.P. Naik, the local senior police inspector, for allegedly ignoring the violations and complaints regarding the illegal building in Lucky Compound.

The chief minister also ordered a probe into the tragedy, which will be conducted by an additional chief secretary of the Urban Development Department.

IANS