A few days after an under-construction building collapsed at Nanakramguda, a former Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) tax inspector and a chain man, have been arrested by the Gachibowli police on Monday.
A chain man is a supervisor who monitors illegal constructions.
During the investigation, police found that tax inspector Sanjay Kumar had taken money from builder Satyanarayana Singh for construction of the illegal structure.
“In February this year, Sanjay Kumar noticed the violations done by Satyanarayana Singh. Though it was not his jurisdiction, he demanded Rs 5 lakh and took Rs 1.1 lakh. Later, he was caught at a mujra party and was suspended,” Cyberabad police told The New India Express.
It was reported that another GHMC employee, B Narahari, who works as a chain man also saw the illegal structure, but remained silent after Satyanarayana mentioned that he knew higher officials of GHMC.
However, Satyanarayana has denied the allegation of paying a bribe to GHMC officials. The police told the Times of India that Satyanarayana’s son, Anil Kumar Singh, has been paying bribes to government officials at his father’s instructions.
The duo have been arrested and sent to judicial remand. Further investigation is still on.
Meanwhile, Satyanarayana confessed that the base foundation of the structure was constructed only for a ground plus three-floor building, but he had later decided to add three more floors.
“As per the initial design, it was a three-column foundation with enough number of pillars. But Singh wanted maximum space for car parking and he made the builder and architect remove the middle column, weakening the structure,” Cyberabad Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Shandilya told Deccan Chronicle.
He also compromised on the quality of materials such as cement and metal to reduce his construction costs.
Even after being warned by the building contractor about the weakness of the foundation, Satyanarayana intended to earn nearly Rs 1.2 lakh in total from the 12 flats as rent, per month.