Six killed as four-storey building collapses in Gurgaon
Gurgaon, Jan 24: Six labourers were killed after an under-construction, four-storey building collapsed in a village here on Thursday morning, officials said.
Some more persons are feared trapped in the rubble of the building in Ullawas village near sector 65 of Gurgaon, officials said. The state government has announced a compensation relief of Rs 3 lakh each to the family members of the deceased.
"Six bodies have been retrieved from the accident site so far. The rescue teams are still on the job," a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) spokesperson said.
According to an official, the newly-laid ceiling on the top floor of the building had crashed, triggering the collapse of the entire structure.
"Those killed were on the second and the third floor, the building's ground and first floor were vacant," the NDRF official, involved in the rescue operation, said.
Three of the deceased, identified as Kuldeep (32), Vishal (17), Altaf (24), were residents of Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar, while one Anand is a native of Bihar's Samastipur, said Gurgaon Police spokesperson Subhash Bokan.
"The identity of the other two deceased was yet to be established," he said. All the victims were asleep when the building collapsed, Bokan said, adding that a magistrate-level enquiry has been initiated into the incident. The police said they are on the lookout for the building's owner, a resident of Ullawas village.
"Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each to the family members of the deceased in the building collapse," officials said.
The Gurgaon Fire Department control room received a call at 5.15 am alerting them about the collapse. Personnel from the police, the fire department, the NDRF and the Haryana state disaster management authority were involved in the rescue operation.
Two teams of NDRF from its base in Ghaziabad and one from its regional base in Delhi's Dwarka were rushed to the site in the morning.
Another team of NDRF was sent from the Ghaziabad base in the evening to relieve one of the teams working since morning, an official said, adding the rescue operation would go on in the night.
The early hours of the operation made little progress as the rescue personnel had to move huge chunks of concrete, iron grills and other debris.
"NDRF responders removed rubble and cleared obstructive materials using high-tech equipment to reach the victims. Thereafter, a vertical approach was made with the help of specialised gear," the NDRF spokesperson said.
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'Godman' Kharat held in 8th sexual exploitation case; court denies police remand, sends him to jail
Nashik (PTI): Police took custody of self-proclaimed godman-cum-astrologer Ashok Kharat in an eighth case related to sexual exploitation of women and produced him before a Nashik district court which sent him to jail till May 12 after rejecting the plea for his police remand on Thursday.
On April 29, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police in north Maharashtra filed a request application in the court demanding Kharat's custody in the eighth case.
After the court granted them the necessary permission, the SIT took custody of Kharat, who was in jail in connection with the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
The 'godman', named in a dozen FIRs related to rape and financial fraud, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani in the eighth case through video conferencing due to security reasons.
The eighth case related to Kharat allegedly sexually exploiting a woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems, according to police.
During the hearing, the prosecution demanded police custody of the accused in the latest case.
However, the defence strongly opposed the demand and argued that the SIT was giving same reasons for police custody every time and there was no strong reason for accepting their plea.
The court accepted the argument put forth by the defence and remanded Kharat to judicial custody till May 12 in the eighth case.
The SIT will produce Kharat in the court on Friday again and seek his police custody in the ninth case. As the self-styled godman has been granted judicial custody in the eighth case, he will be sent to Nashik Road Central Jail and the SIT will take his custody from there.
Meanwhile, Kharat's judicial custody in the fourth case ended on Thursday. On April 18, the accused was remanded to judicial custody till April 30 in the fourth case of sexual exploitation of women.
In a related development, the SIT conducted a search at Kharat's office in the 'Canada Corner' area of Nashik city on Wednesday. A 'panchnama' (record of search and seizure proceedings) was conducted and the office was locked and sealed again.
Kharat, a well-heeled man with political connections, was arrested for the first time on March 18 after a woman alleged he had repeatedly raped her for three years.
He is accused of sexually exploiting several women by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic, and also committing large-scale financial fraud.
The SIT is conducting a probe into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against the astrologer in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts.
