INDIA: Thane building collapse: 9 accused sent to 14-day police custody
Thane Police on Sunday said that in all nine accused arrested in the building collapse case have been sent to police custody for 14 days.
Police officials also confirmed that the builders had paid bribes to get clearances from civic body officials to go ahead with the construction of the illegal edifice.
Police officials said the builders may not attract a murder charge as per the laws of the state.
"We found that civic officials were repeatedly bribed. Even police constable was also bribed," Thane Police commissioner KP Raghuvanshi said in a press conference. "After Anti-Corruption Bureau raids, we found Rs 5 lakh from the residence of deputy municipal commissioner," Raghuvanshi said.
All the accused were produced in a Thane court today and have been sent to police custody till April 20, police commissioner said.
Earlier, six people have been arrested in connection with the collapse of a seven-storey building at Thane that left 74 people dead, Maharashtra home minister RR Patil said on Sunday.
They included Thane Municipal Corporation's suspended deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Chavan, assistant municipal commissioner Babasaheb Andhale, clerk Kiran Madke, municipal corporator Hira Patil and a beat police official, identified only as Sayyed.
Jabbar Patel, who worked for Chavan, has also been arrested. A former assistant municipal commissioner, identified only as Thorbole, is said to be on the run, the minister said.
The arrests on Sunday were in addition to the earlier arrest of builders Jamil Qureshi and Salim Shaikh. Police are searching for another builder, Adnan Shaikh.
A day after the Thursday evening disaster, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced the suspension of Chavan and KP Naik, the local senior police inspector, for allegedly ignoring building law violations.
They were also accused of ignoring complaints regarding the illegal building.
A total of 74 people died in the crash, making it the worst-ever building collapse in Maharashtra in the past decade.
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