LIVES CUT SHORT: (From L) Akshat Yadav, Arpit Jaj & Pawan Kuma
Seven precious lives lost to greed and lack of enforcement. TOI’s Abhay tracks the families of four victims and shares their pain Seven people died when a five-storey PG accommodation collapsed in Delhi’s Satya Niketan on Sunday, turning a place meant to house students chasing their dreams into a death trap.
Family of Arpit Jaj (19) rues his return to Delhi
He lived on the first floor and paid Rs 18,000 a month as rent.
His cousin, Deepankar, who helped him find the accommodation, said he had advised Akshat to shift to Mayur Vihar. “I told Akshat to shift to Mayur Vihar, but he did not. He told me that it was only a matter of one year,” Deepankar said. “Everything was fine,” Deepankar said, adding that the family rushed to the spot after learning about the collapse through social media reels. His neighbour, Vijay Kumar Rajak, said Akshat was good at studies. “He mostly kept to himself and focused on his studies,” Rajak said. Not only did they lose him, but his father, Kanhaiya, had to be hospitalised after being told that his son was critical. The family has not yet told Kanhaiya, who runs a medical store in Chhattisgarh, that Yuvraj is dead, fearing that the news could worsen his condition. He had shifted to the fourth floor of the PG accommodation just a week before tragedy struck, his cousin said. His cousin, Dhiraj, said the PG building was dilapidated. For several hours, they held on to the hope that he had survived as people at the site told them that some trapped residents had been rescued. “Many people said that Pawan had been rescued and he was alive,” Dhiraj said.
They had dreams of becoming an IAS officer, a chartered accountant and building careers that would make their families proud. Instead, their families were left searching through rubble, waiting outside hospitals and mortuaries, and struggling to identify their children. As the death toll climbed to seven after two more bodies were pulled from the debris, TOI tracked down the families of four of the young victims — and the devastating stories they left behind. Akshat dreamt of becoming an IAS officer and making his parents proud. However, that dream was crushed beneath the rubble of the collapsed Satya Niketan building. Akshat had been living in Delhi for the past two years and had been staying at the PG accommodation for nearly a year. Hours later, his relatives were desperately searching for him in the rubble. Akshat’s wallet was found at the site, helping the family establish that he was among those trapped beneath the debris. His body was later identified at AIIMS mortuary. Outside the mortuary, Akshat’s younger sister wept inconsolably as the family struggled to come to terms with the loss of a young man whose ambitions and dreams were cruelly cut short. For Yuvraj’s relatives, the tragedy came as a double blow. Yuvraj was speaking to his friend Gunjan on the phone when the building collapsed. The call suddenly disconnected, and Gunjan received no response despite repeatedly trying to contact him. A native of Chhattisgarh, Yuvraj was a BCom (Hons) student at Motilal Nehru College and was known to his friends and acquaintances as quiet and studious. On getting news of the building collapse, Yuvraj’s relatives rushed to Delhi and waited anxiously as rescue teams cleared the debris. Through the long hours of the search, they hoped Yuvraj would survive. However, their hopes were shattered when his body was pulled out. Arpit’s family has decided to donate his corneas, hoping that even in death, he could help someone else regain their sight. Just a few hours later, the building turned into a death trap. Initially, Arpit’s family believed he was asleep when his mother’s calls went unanswered. Later, relatives learnt about the incident and rushed to the site, but it was all over by then. His body was identified at 6pm. Arpit’s mother was seen weeping inconsolably at AIIMS, blaming herself for not being able to stop him from returning to Delhi. A last-minute change in plans proved fatal for this native of UP’s Auraiya. Hours later, he was trapped in the collapsed building. Pawan, who had four sisters, was pursuing computer science with mathematics at Motilal Nehru College. His father is a retired veterinary doctor. As soon as Pawan’s relatives heard about the collapse, they rushed to the site and waited anxiously as rescue teams searched through the rubble. The relatives continued waiting for confirmation, clinging to every piece of information trickling in from the site. Just after 10pm, their hopes were dashed when they learnt that Pawan had died.
Among the dead were five young students, many of whom had returned to Delhi only hours earlier after spending time with their families during the festival break. He had returned to the city from his hometown in Madhya Pradesh just two days before the incident after celebrating Raksha Bandhan. Just hours before the tragedy, the teenager had spoken to his parents over a video call.
A mole on his neck and a mark left by a surgery on his right leg helped Akshat’s mother, Sweta, identify his body at AIIMS mortuary on Monday. The body of the second-year BCom (Hons) student at PGDAV College was pulled out at 7am on Monday. The second-year BCom student, who aspired to become a chartered accountant, returned to his PG at 8am on Sunday after celebrating Raksha Bandhan and Janmashtami with his family in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, his friend Mayank said. Pawan had planned to visit his cousin on Saturday and stay there till Sunday, but decided against it.
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