An assistant engineer, Shankarappa, has been suspended.

Sunshine apartment in Kasthurinagar in Bengaluru East was constructed by AN builders (properties), run by Ayesha Baig and Mohammed Asif. According to the complaint filed before the police, the building had eight flats.

Permission for its construction was given in November 2012 and by November 2014, the flats were ready for sale. Ayesha Baig owned four flats, all of which were sold. All the flat owners have paid property tax till date.
BBMP officials said that while an OC is mandatory to get electricity and water connections, the builders had managed to get them without it.

On Thursday around 2.30 pm, three families living in the building noticed that the structure was tilting. Rushing out, they informed the civic body and fire officials. Within the next few minutes, the building collapsed.

A BBMP official said, “Prima facie, it looks like that a column of the building was weak, leading to the collapse. There were several violations, including the number of floors. The original plan did not approve three floors. In fact, they were now in the process of building a penthouse on the top floor.”

Gaurav Gupta, Chief Commissioner of BBMP, said, “The building construction in 60×40 feet was sanctioned under Suvarna Paravanagi scheme in 2012 but it did not have an OC for all these years. We have filed a complaint with the police to initiate criminal action against the builder and BBMP officials. We are going to demolish the structure by Friday. Residents of neighbouring buildings have been evacuated as a precaution.”

Asked whether the building was constructed on a lake bed, Gupta said the soil is being tested. Gupta added they have initiated a survey of dilapidated buildings in Bengaluru and action will be taken against those found guilty.

According to the BBMP administration, one such survey conducted in 2019 showed that 185 buildings flouting rules, of which 10 were demolished.

On September 27, a three-storey building in Bengaluru’s Lakkasandra, where construction workers of the Bengaluru metro were living, collapsed, The next day, another three-storied building in the Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (KMF), housing more than 15 families, crashed to the ground.