Mumbai building fire: Builder remanded to police custody till August 27

The builder, Abdul Razak Ismail Supariwala, was arrested by the Bhoiwada police yesterday, hours after the broke out at the 12th floor of the posh Crystal Tower building.

He was booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others).

Supariwala was also booked under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Act 2006.

He was produced before the Bhoiwada Metropolitan Magistrate Court which remanded him to police custody till August 27, a senior police officer said.

Twenty-one people were injured in the fire.

Nearly three dozen people were rescued from the building.

The 17-storey building did not have the mandatory Occupation Certificate granted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but it was already occupied by around 58 flat owners, according to the civic body.

The civic body had in October 2016 issued a notice to the builder and the 58 occupants to vacate the building within seven days, but it was challenged in the court and the matter is still sub-judice, the BMC said in a statement yesterday.

Renovation work was underway on the affected floor but the exact reason behind the blaze would be known only after a thorough investigation, an official had said.