Efforts are underway to clear the debris of the collapsed building in Bengaluru
The Bengaluru Police on Wednesday arrested the owner of the collapsed under-construction building that claimed five lives. Muniraj Reddy, an Andhra Pradesh-based builder, has been charged with negligence, officials said.
Reddy's son, Bhuvan, and the building's contractor Muniyappa, have also been taken into police custody for questioning.
On Tuesday, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had said that the collapsed building was "illegal" and ordered an immediate action against owners of such structures."This incident is a lesson for us. To prevent such incidents from reoccurring in the future, it will be made mandatory to obtain permission for the buildings and a team will be deployed to monitor the buildings under construction," he said.
Following this, a manhunt was launched to arrest Reddy and those involved in the incident.
The under-construction building collapsed last afternoon in the Horamavu Agara area in the eastern part of Bengaluru amid heavy rainfall in the city. The death count in the tragedy has since climbed to five and seven others have been injured. Thirteen people have been rescued so far from the debris.
The victims have been identified as Harman (26), Tripal (35), Mohd Sahil (19) from Bihar, Sathya Raju (25), and Shankar.
According to officials, there were over 20 people inside the building at the time of the collapse.
Efforts are underway to clear the debris with teams from the fire and emergency department, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) being pressed into rescue operations since Tuesday afternoon. A dog squad also joined the rescue operation.