- 1 week ago
A fatal building collapse in South Delhi's Satya Niketan claimed seven lives, including five Delhi University students, after a five-storey paying guest accommodation collapsed during basement construction work. Following the incident, the Delhi High Court ordered a high-level inquiry to investigate how the unauthorized structure was permitted to operate without a sanctioned building plan, fire NOC, or approved upper floors. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi suspended five officials ranging from a junior engineer to the South Zone Deputy Commissioner over regulatory lapses. Delhi Police arrested the property owners, retired IAF sergeant Hariram Gupta, his wife Urmila Gupta, their son Mahesh, a PG operator, and a labour contractor. Investigations revealed that additional floors were added onto a fifty-five square yard plot despite weak foundations to maximise rental income from students. Satellite data analysis highlighted rampant vertical construction across Satya Niketan, exposing widespread enforcement failures and illegal student housing operations across the capital.
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00:28Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
00:32Seven people are dead.
00:35Five of them were Delhi University students.
00:38Five MCD officials have been suspended.
00:41The owners of the building, an 81-year-old man, his wife and their son, have been arrested.
00:48And the Delhi High Court has now ordered a high-level inquiry into how a five-story paying guest accommodation
00:57was allowed to exist in the first place.
01:00But today, the biggest question that we are asking is not simply why did this building collapse?
01:06It is actually who allowed it to become a five-story hostel in the first place.
01:13Because according to the MCD's post-collapse assessment, the building had no sanctioned building plan, an unauthorized basement, no fire
01:24NOC and a fifth floor that was not permitted under the building rules.
01:29And yet, students were living there.
01:33They were paying rent.
01:34They were sleeping there, studying there, trusting that somewhere, somebody had checked whether the building was safe or not.
01:44And that is where this story becomes much bigger than one collapsed building.
01:50It becomes a story about Delhi's booming private hostel and PG business.
01:56The shortage of student accommodation, illegal extra floors, official inspections and a question that Delhi has been asking again and
02:07again after every tragedy.
02:09When an illegal building stands for years, who is responsible for not seeing it?
02:15Hello and welcome to Postmortem, where we put the spotlight on crimes that shock us, yet make us want to
02:24know more and more.
02:34Now let's begin with the day of the incident.
02:39It is around 1.30 in the afternoon on Sunday.
02:43The place is Satyaniketan in South Delhi, a neighbourhood packed with students, paying guest accommodations, eateries and rental properties because
02:55of its proximity to Delhi University's South Campus.
02:59Now inside one such building, work is reportedly underway in the basement.
03:05And then the structure gives way.
03:08A five-storey building comes crashing down.
03:12There is dust, concrete, steel, furniture and beneath tons of rubble, students and workers.
03:20A PCR call reaches South Campus Police at around 1.34pm.
03:26Emergency teams immediately rush in.
03:29Delhi Fire Services, Police, NDRF, Delhi Disaster Management Authority, MCD, Civil Defence and fire tenders are also deployed.
03:40The lanes are narrow, the locality is congested, rescuers have to walk through a maze of buildings and debris.
03:49Locals join the rescue effort.
03:52Everyone is racing against time.
03:55Because somewhere underneath that concrete, people may still be alive.
04:00The phone is coming in.
04:01There is a video call.
04:03The Children also came here.
04:14There is a video call.
04:30I went to AIMS and all the kids were hospitalized, I saw that my brother was not in the hospital,
04:35and I didn't know who he was there.
04:38When we went to the site, we called our college admin to our college.
04:42If we had any details about that, we would like to tell.
04:48We had asked about it and the rescue team was doing their work.
04:52At that time, we had told that he was already in the hospital.
04:55But when we contacted the trauma center, we had not reached here.
05:01There were all the buildings.
05:03We were talking about the buildings.
05:06We were going to go there and go there.
05:10We were talking about the renovations.
05:13We were talking about the buildings.
05:17We have videos.
05:19We were talking about the building.
05:20When the building was hit, it was a big deal.
05:23It would be a big deal.
05:25It would be a big deal.
05:26We had seen the building, where we live from the south campus and other campuses.
05:32We were talking about the building.
05:33We were talking about the building.
05:35The building is known as Hostel Days.
05:38It is not some abandoned structural building.
05:42It is a functioning student accommodation.
05:45Reports say it had around 15 rooms with two or three students sharing every room.
05:51Students were reportedly paying approximately 12,000 per bed.
05:56There was a building called Hostel Days.
05:59There was a building called Boys PGA.
06:01There was a building of Five floors.
06:03There was a building called Bugle.
06:04And the two buildings were hilled when it was gone.
06:09These two basement buildings were Glightly.
06:10They were then due to PGs.
06:10And on the entrance.
06:11The entrance has been close to the entrance.
06:13In the Jatkarrenskách Park, on the street, there was blocked.
06:16foreign
06:24foreign
06:24foreign
06:24foreign
06:26foreign
06:43foreign
06:44foreign
06:45foreign
07:27There will be 20 to 25 such buildings, which will fall after a month or a year.
07:36The building is located close to colleges, including
07:44Motilal Nehru College, Atmaram Sanatana Dharam College and Sri Venkateswara College.
07:49For a student coming to Delhi from another state, this is exactly the kind of accommodation
07:55they are looking for. Close to college. Affordable compared to many alternatives.
08:01Immediately available as well. But there is one thing a student searching for a room
08:06usually cannot determine. Can the building actually stand?
08:10A student does not have access to the sanctioned building plans.
08:15They don't know whether a basement was approved or not.
08:18They don't know whether the fifth floor is legal or illegal.
08:22They don't know whether a fire NOC exists or not.
08:26They assume somebody else has checked.
08:29That assumption can be fatal.
08:32He has a part of the building.
08:35This has a piece of housing.
08:38The building has a place in it is not a company.
08:43and there are not so many people who live in the building.
08:47They live in a part of the building near the building.
08:49There are hundreds of thousands, of thousands of thousands of people.
08:54They are living.
08:54I can see the building here as well.
08:59The building has been living in this building.
09:0140-50 years old, and if there is no need to be a PG or a hotel in the area,
09:08then there is no need to be aware of local assets and local M.C.D.
09:11So, everything is going on in the years and years.
09:16It's a disaster.
09:17Sunday becomes Monday.
09:20The rescue operation continues.
09:22The initial fear is that dozens may be trapped.
09:26Eventually, rescuers pulled 12 people from the debris.
09:29Nine students, three labourers.
09:31But the numbers become more devastating as the operation progresses.
09:36By Monday evening, seven people are dead.
09:40Five others survived with injuries.
09:42The rescue operation has lasted roughly 27 hours.
09:47A building that had housed students is now a mountain of concrete.
09:52And almost immediately, the questions begin.
09:56The Delhi government orders action.
09:58Five M.C.D. officials are suspended.
10:02They are Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of South Zone.
10:06Ranveer Singh, Superintendent Engineer.
10:09Lalit Kumar Goyal, Executive Engineer of the Building Department.
10:13Sunil Chauhan, Assistant Engineer of the Building Department.
10:16And Ashish Kumar, who's a junior engineer.
10:20I can tell you that whatever people are responsible, whether it's the owner or the owner of the building,
10:28because the building was old.
10:30And there was a work of construction and renovation.
10:33So, they were in the basement, a ladder of the building from the building.
10:40When the building was used, the building was in the building.
10:43The children, there were in it.
10:45And they all were in the agency.
10:47They were doing the work you need.
10:50They were the best of our children.
11:03From the ground-level engineer all the way up to the Zonal Deputy Commissioner.
11:08Now ask yourself, if one junior engineer missed an illegal building, perhaps that is negligence.
11:16But what if the responsibility extends through all the five levels?
11:21Who inspected? Who reported? Who reviewed? Who was supposed to act?
11:25And if someone had already flagged a violation, who was supposed to ensure that the violation did not simply remain
11:33on paper?
11:34These are questions being asked by the Delhi High Court as well.
11:38It has now demanded a high-level inquiry into whether the building had the necessary permissions
11:44and directed the MCD to fix responsibility if officials are found responsible for lapses.
11:52But here is the question that should haunt the MCD.
11:57Was Satya Niketan the first warning? No.
12:01If the MCD was building, knew that this particular building which fell yesterday was unsafe,
12:07why didn't he invoke sections of the DMC Act and issue a notice perhaps to the owner
12:17to ensure that that building is secured and repaired or even demolished?
12:21Question is asked as to who is this MCD inspector who allowed that building to continue with its renovation with
12:30weak pillars?
12:31Questions being asked, if the danger was so imminent, why didn't you exercise the rights
12:38and ensure that this building is fenced?
12:42Multiple questions and no answers.
12:45What we are seeing today is another tragedy in Delhi and unfortunately reaction more than action.
12:56And this is where the story gets even more uncomfortable because two of the five officials now facing action,
13:03Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar and Superintendent Ranveer Singh were also serving in the South Zone when another tragedy struck.
13:14The Malvi and Anghar fire on June 3rd that killed 23 people.
13:19And after that tragedy, these two building officials were not suspended.
13:24The action then focused on officials from the Health Department.
13:28The building department officials in the South Zone were not subjected to same action.
13:34Then Satya Niketan happened and suddenly the same two senior officials were suspended.
13:42Now does accountability in Delhi only begin after bodies are pulled out from rubble?
13:48The government officials in the South Zone.
13:52foreign
14:34But there is another phrase being thrown into this debate.
14:38The hostile mafia.
14:39What does that actually mean?
14:41It is not simply about one building owner.
14:44It is about an ecosystem.
14:46A severe shortage of formal student accommodation.
14:50A huge demand for such rooms.
14:53Students arriving in Delhi from across India.
14:56Private properties being converted into PGs.
15:00Additional floors being added, sometimes illegally.
15:04Commercial use inside residential neighbourhoods.
15:08And rents being charged per bed.
15:11The economics, simple.
15:14The more floors you build, the more rooms you create.
15:18And if regulations are weak or enforcement is slow, the incentive to keep building upward becomes enormous.
15:26I will just try and show you on the camera of India today, another property that is being operated by
15:33the same owner, hostel days.
15:35And over here, yet again, same story.
15:38If I could just pan the camera and you will get an idea that this is a very small area.
15:44Probably a 25 to 50 yard area in which this entire hostel has been made.
15:50And if you could look all the way up, this is a ground plus 5 floor building.
15:54Absolutely, absolutely illegal.
15:56There is no way that a building of such a height is allowed to be built over here.
16:02And the meters placed outside, wires hanging randomly, the gates are closed.
16:08But inside, if I could just ask my camera person to zoom in and try to give a sense to
16:13our viewers.
16:14Inside this, the entry and exit is just a common entry exit.
16:18The length of the entry and exit is not more than 1, 1.5 feet itself.
16:22So, you can imagine that how such buildings are being allowed to run freely out here in Satya Niketan area.
16:29And now the MCD is coming on record and saying that they will demolish the other property that is right
16:34next to the property that has gone down.
16:37Clearly, this is nothing more than an eyewash that has been done from the side of the MCD.
16:42That building will already collapse sooner than later.
16:46A nearly five-decade-old building in Satya Niketan collapsed while construction and repair work was allegedly underway.
16:54And now, the FIR tells a disturbing story of what police believe happened before those walls came crashing down.
17:03According to the FIR, the building was allegedly altered beyond what its foundation could safely bear.
17:10The structure stood on a plot of roughly 55 square yards in Satya Niketan, close to Delhi University campus.
17:18It was an old building.
17:19The original permission, according to MCD officials, was reportedly only for ground plus one structure.
17:28But what stood there when the building collapsed was far, far more.
17:33A ground floor and multiple additional floors.
17:36The FII alleges that the building's owners had constructed additional floors despite knowing that the existing foundation could not safely
17:46withstand the additional load.
17:49Police allege that the additional construction was driven by the desire to earn more rental income.
17:55The new guidelines say that the new fire guidelines, if you look at that, the new fire guidelines say that
18:01there will be enough space for ambulances and fire brigades to move in and around.
18:07And one of the most important things to realize is that the biggest hurdle was access to that site where
18:17that building collapsed.
18:18If access is so dingy and so dangerous, imagine how will rescue happen in the case of any emergency.
18:28The first accused is Hari Ram Gupta.
18:30He's 81 years old, a retired Indian Air Force sergeant.
18:34Police arrested him in Bhivadi in Rajasthan after the collapse and then there is Urmila Gupta, Hari Ram's wife.
18:43She is 75 years old.
18:45According to police, the property was registered in her name.
18:49She was arrested along with her husband.
18:52Along with these two, their son Mahesh was also involved in managing and operating the property.
18:58The building collapsed, three people were arrested.
19:02Initially, we had information about Hari Ram Gupta, who is the owner of the building and who is the owner
19:07of the building and who is the P.G.
19:11He was arrested.
19:12He was arrested.
19:12After that, we knew that his wife, who was the owner of the building, was arrested.
19:16His son Mahesh, was operated with the P.G.
19:19So he also arrested him in the case.
19:21He was arrested.
19:22When he was arrested, he told us that there was a renovation work in the basement.
19:26And the labor that survived and was injured, he told us that there was a little construction in the basement.
19:34There was a little renovation work in the apartment house, and there was a little renovation work in the apartment
19:39house.
19:40Did the people earning money from the building know that the building itself could be unsafe?
19:46Because if the police allegation is ultimately proved, this was not simply an unfortunate structural failure.
19:55It was a foreseeable risk allegedly created in the pursuit of rental income.
20:02But the story does not end with the property-owning family.
20:07The latest police action has widened the investigation.
20:10A PG operator, identified as Sudhanshu, has also been arrested.
20:15The investigation also reached the construction site.
20:19Police have arrested a labour contractor, identified as Sanju, who was being brought from Kaskanch in Uttar Pradesh for questioning
20:27in connection with the construction and the repair work in the basement.
20:31Greed has caused the entire area to mushroom with rapid building.
20:37India Today has found evidence of this vertical growth in Satyanaketan.
20:41Analysis of satellite-derived data by India Today's Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT team, found that nearly 38% of
20:52comparable locations in the study area showed an increase in estimated building height between 2016 and 2023.
21:00In several areas, the increase was more than 3 metres, roughly the height of an additional floor.
21:08That does not prove that every additional floor was illegal, but it shows how rapidly the neighbourhood has been growing
21:16vertically.
21:17And that raises another question.
21:20Where were the regulators while the skyline was changing?
21:24The Satyanaketan tragedy had barely happened, and India Today's ground team found that the PG business was still operating nearby.
21:32So why?
21:49The
21:49The
21:49The
21:49The
21:49The
21:50The
21:50The
21:51The
21:52What is the price?
21:57It's $12,000 in the price.
22:01How do you get?
22:03I will get the price.
22:05It will be $12,000.
22:07And...
22:08You won't have $12,000 in the price.
22:12$12,000 in the price.
22:13$12,000 in the price.
22:17And...
22:19I have paid for two months.
22:25I will have paid for five months.
22:27I will paid for five months.
22:29So, I have paid for ten months.
22:29You have to sign a agreement.
22:32If you have 5 months to pay for five months,
22:35you will have to pay for six months.
22:36Okay.
22:38You will have to pay for six months.
22:39I will pay for $12,000.
22:40You will pay for $15,000.
22:51That's the case.
22:53It's a lot of sealant.
22:58Hmm?
22:59It's a lot of sealant.
23:00Is it a lot of sealant?
23:01I think it's a lot of sealant.
23:02I've got a lot of people in the forest.
23:04They're burning.
23:05There is a room in there.
23:10What did you tell us about the room?
23:12No.
23:13Where is the kitchen?
23:24I said, today we are going to build a building.
23:28But today we are going to build a new building.
23:31So we are going to build a new building.
23:35We are going to build a new building.
23:37Do you have any students, Baba Ji?
23:39Yes.
23:40Do you have any students?
23:42Do you go here?
23:43Yes, yes.
23:43Do you have any students?
23:45There is a building in this building.
23:47Okay.
24:05Do you have any students?
24:08Yes, yes.
24:12Do you have any students?
24:12Yes, the students are going to build a new building.
24:16Do you have any students?
24:18Yes, yes.
24:21Do you have any students?
24:23Do you have any students?
24:29Yes, yes.
24:30Yes, yes.
24:33Do you have any students?
24:45Yes, yes.
24:46Yes, yes.
24:47Yes, yes.
24:54The Delhi government has announced structural audits now.
24:59The MCD has ordered action against illegal structures.
25:03The Delhi High Court wants a high-level inquiry.
25:07The five MCD officials are suspended.
25:11But suspension is not accountability.
25:15If a building with an unauthorized basement, an unauthorized fifth floor and no-fire NOC can operate as a student
25:24hostel,
25:25Satya Niketan has already given us the answer to one question.
25:30Is Delhi's urban system broken?
25:34Well, the answer is yes.
25:37That's all we have for you in post-mortem today.
25:39It's time for a short break now.
25:41Keep watching India Today.
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