New Delhi: Five days after the building collapse in southwest Delhi’s Satya Niketan killed seven people, including five students, absconding PG facility operator Shubham Tyagi surrendered before Patiala House Courts Friday. Police, who later arrested him, had been conducting raids in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states to trace him.
Gupta and labour contractor Sanoj, who were produced in the court Friday after two days of police custody, were remanded to 14-day judicial custody.
During questioning, Lovneesh allegedly told the investigators that he had asked Mahesh Gupta, son of the building owner, about the ongoing construction and why it was being done. Nishu Jindal, duty judicial magistrate first class, granted two days’ police custody of the two accused for probe. Investigators are now likely to jointly question them to corroborate their statements and establish their respective roles in the events leading up to the collapse. Police suspect they were running a total of seven such facilities in Satya Niketan under the name of Hostel Daze, and are probing their entire operation. Investigators will examine their call records, chats and other digital information to establish whom they contacted immediately after the collapse and what was discussed. However, police are yet to find anything to validate this claim.
Earlier, they had arrested Sudhanshu Lovneesh, who used to operate PGs in the building along with Tyagi, in connection with the case. Police had earlier sought three days’ custody of Gupta, Sanoj and Lovneesh.
Police are also questioning the accused about the construction work carried out at the property, the alterations allegedly made to the building and their knowledge of its structural condition. Their statements will be corroborated with evidence collected during the investigation.