NEW DELHI: Five of a family at Babu Nagar in northeast Delhi died on Saturday when the boundary wall of an illegal building collapsed on them. Three children and two women died on the spot, while a 12-year-old was rushed to hospital with severe injuries.Said DCP (northeast) R S Meena: "The owner of the building, Subhash Chandra, is absconding. We have registered a case against him.
The building had been served notices by the MCD on previous occasions. The construction was stalled but the wall collapsed due to undue pressure of material lying next to it."Members of the Rathod family were sitting on a cot in an empty plot next to the wall to warm themselves under the winter sun when the wall came crashing around 3 pm. Krishna Rathod (40) and her children ��� Deepak (3), Anuj (5) and Snehlata (22) ��� and Vishal (1) got buried under the rubble. Bhawana (12) sustained severe injuries and had to be rushed to GTB Hospital.The building was apparently being constructed to house a school and the construction had been stopped earlier due to the poor material being used. "There are cracks in the front wall and the balcony of the first floor as well. This is not the first time that this wall has fallen," said Surya Kumar Singh, a resident of the area.Krishna's husband Budh Pal, who works with a security agency, said their daughter Snehlata had come to visit with her son Vishal. Both died in the wall collapse.