Mohali, 24 December 2024: Local police have arrested both co-owners of the building that collapsed in Mohali’s Sohana village on Saturday, leaving two dead.
The latest arrest occurred on Monday when Gagandeep Singh, 31, of Chaumajra village, was taken into custody, following the earlier detention of his partner, Parvinder Singh, also of Chaumajra, on Sunday.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) City-2 HS Bal stated, “Both accused have been remanded to five-day police custody by a local court. We have also named Suresh Kumar, the construction contractor, as a suspect and will apprehend him soon. Strict action will be taken against everyone responsible for this tragedy.”
According to authorities, excavation work on an adjacent plot, also owned by the arrested co-owners, caused the land to sink, triggering the collapse. The digging, which began late Friday night, reportedly lacked necessary precautions and approval from the Mohali Municipal Corporation.
The accused have been booked under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Notably, Gagandeep Singh was recently elected as a panch in local polls.
The investigation has been handed over to Mohali Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Damandeep Kaur, who has been directed to submit her findings within three weeks.
Victims Identified
The collapse claimed the lives of Abhishek Dhanwal, 30, of Ambala, and Drishti Verma, 20, of Theog, Himachal Pradesh. As per the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the 23-hour rescue operation confirmed that no additional victims were trapped under the debris.
Eyewitnesses shared harrowing details of the incident. Salman, a nearby shopkeeper, alerted residents as he noticed the structure tilting. While some, including Abhishek, evacuated immediately, he returned to retrieve his mobile phone and was trapped when the building came down.
Drishti, asleep in her rented room at the time, was also unable to escape. Her cousin, Sakshi, had left for her hometown just before the tragedy struck.
Authorities continue to investigate the collapse, vowing accountability for the lives lost and the alleged lapses in construction safety.