Two days after an under-construction building collapsed in Bengaluru’s Kasavanahalli, claiming the lives of five people and injuring 18 others, the Bellandur Police have arrested two people in connection with the case.
The arrested have been identified as the realtor, Y Tanveer Khan, and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Executive Engineer M Muni Reddy.
The Bellandur Police are now looking for the building owner, Kunhammed, who is believed to have fled to Kerala.
According to Whitefield Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abdul Ahad, Tanveer holds the General Power of Attorney (GPA) to the property on which the building was being constructed.
BBMP Executive Engineer M Muni Raju and Tanveer Khan, the accused in the case
“The owner of the property is Kunhammed and he is believed to be in Kerala currently. Kunhammed had signed over the GPA to realtor Tanveer, a resident of HSR Layout, and another man named Krishna Kant Reddy. These two men were put in charge of the construction,” the Bellandur Police said.
Meanwhile, the police also arrested BBMP Executive Engineer, 48-year-old M Muni Reddy, for allegedly giving the GPA holders a no-objection certificate for the building plan, which was in clear violation of the BBMP bylaws.
On Friday, the police had arrested Kunhammed’s daughter, Sameera, and son-in-law, Rafiq, soon after the building collapsed.
“We had arrested Sameera, but upon questioning her, we found that her father Kunhammed had signed the GPA over to Tanveer. Tanveer and Krishna Kant Reddy were constructing a paying guest facility for Kunhammed. They were supposed to hand over the building by the end of April this year. Tanveer had not followed any safety precautions, despite the fact that he had hired more people to complete the work,” the police added.
“We are still looking for Kunhammed and Krishna Kumar Reddy, whose role in the mishap is being probed. We are also looking to see if there are any more people who were involved in the case and if we find anyone else, we will book them too,” said Additional Commissioner of Police, East, Seemath Kumar Singh.
The deceased have been are identified as M Anwar Ansari (29), M Hazrath Ansari (20), Sher Mohammed (26) and S Rajanna (32). The 18 injured are painters, mason and carpenters.
The police have registered a case under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.