MUMBAI: Seventeen people died and nine were injured when a four-story apartment building collapsed in Virar east minutes before midnight on Tuesday.
Rescuers worked for 38 hours, eventually roping in sniffer dogs to locate victims and survivors after Ramabai Apartments came crashing down on Narangi Road.
Constrained by narrow streets lined with chawls and buildings with little space between them, rescuers eventually pulled out 26 individuals from the rubble by Thursday afternoon, only nine of them alive.
The developer, Niley Sane, who owns Ramabai Apartments and rented the 50-odd flats in it, has been arrested and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the BNS. He has also been booked under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, for unauthorised development or unauthorised use of land.
Ramabai Apartments was built in 2011 and declared unauthorised by the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) just a year later. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Sane although police are yet to confirm whether he was arrested back then.
The building was also on the list of dilapidated buildings, released by the VVCMC before the monsoon every year. However, its residents had ignored notices to vacate. Residents allege that Sane, despite knowing that the building was in a precarious state, failed to carry out any repair work.
The collapse took place at around 11.45 pm on Tuesday, when the rear portion of Ramabai Apartments fell on a chawl below. The deceased include six women, eight men and three children.
The crash occurred not long after a party wrapped up on the third floor, to celebrate the birthday of one-year-old Utkarsha Jovil. Bodies of the baby and her mother Arohi, 25, were recovered soon after the rescue effort began but the body of the child’s father, Omkar, was found after a nerve-wracking 36 hours.
Another family of three, the Nivalkars, was also killed in the crash. The bodies of Sachin, Supriya and their 11-year-old son Arnav were found after sniffer dogs were called in to assist the rescue effort.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced financial assistance of ₹5 lakh to families of the deceased.
Dilapidated buildings
A routine survey conducted before every monsoon, to identify dilapidated and extremely dilapidated buildings in the Vasai-Virar region, put the number of such buildings at 783 in May. Of these, 130 were declared “extremely dangerous”. Residents were issued notices to vacate, said deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Sawant. “The most dilapidated and dangerous buildings are in E Division and G Division,” he said.
Between 2021 and 2025, 1,153 builders and contractors in Vasai-Virar have been served notices under the MRTP Act for unauthorised constructions. Of these, 391 cases were converted into FIRs and arrests were made.
The twin townships of Vasai and Virar have been making headlines in recent times for illegal constructions across the region. Helped by senior civic officials and town planners, developers in many instances have risked the lives of residents by constructing apartments after flouting the rule book.
Recently, former VVCMC municipal commissioner Anil Pawar was arrested for running a cartel of civic officials, architects, chartered accountants and intermediaries, who drove large-scale illegal construction in the region. Pawar was arrested with three others, including YS Reddy, deputy commissioner in the VVCMC’s town planning department. Reddy was previously posted with CIDCO and was transferred to the VVMC as soon as it was established in 2009.
In another instance of corruption and collusion between civic officials and developers, 41 buildings were demolished in Agarwal Nagar in Vasai east, earlier this year. The demolition displaced around 2,000 families.
Reddy’s name cropped up during this investigation as well, and the Enforcement Directorate recovered crores of rupees in cash from his Hyderabad residence.
Civic officials say that the law needs to be strengthened because the offences for which builders are typically arrested are bailable. “After they are let off on bail, builders continue with their illegal activities,” said Sanjay Herwade, additional commissioner of VVCMC.