The Sewri police on Saturday morning held mandap decorator Ashok Mehta (45) and placed him under arrest for his alleged negligence that caused the death of more than 40 residents of the four-storeyed Babu Genu building. Mehta had allegedly constructed small mezzanine sections on the pillars of the ground floor of the building to store equipment that caused the pillars to weaken, which subsequently led to the collapse. “We arrested Mehta from his residence at Ashwa Garden on TJ Road at Sewri (west) at around 9 am,” said PSI Pandhari Kande of the Sewri police station. He was produced at Bhoiwada court on Saturday afternoon where he was remanded to police custody. “We will gather evidence ranging from the BMC’s letter to the residents in 2009 that declared the building as dangerous. The second piece of evidence will include statements of surviving residents who might possibly testify that he had made the alleged illegal construction on the pillars. The third would be sending samples from the debris for forensic analysis,” said an officer from the Sewri police station. Mehta has been charged with Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt by endangering life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by endangering life), 268 (causing public nuisance by illegal omission), 114 (presence of abettor during offence) and 34 (common intention). “We have added Section 34 with the assumption that other persons might be involved along with Mehta in the illegal alterations which will be ascertained in the investigation and his interrogation. The charge can always be dropped by the trial court during framing of the charges, if it is proven otherwise,” the officer said.
