Pune wall collapse incident: Police custody of two builders

A court here Tuesday extended till July 6 the police custody of two builders arrested in connection with the wall collapse incident in Kondhwa area in which 15 labourers were killed.

Vipul Agarwal and Vivek Agarwal were arrested on Saturday after a portion of 22-foot-high compound wall of a housing society collapsed on adjoining shanties of construction workers following heavy rains.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) A S Deshpande extended their custody till July 6.

Vipul and Vivek are partners in Alcon Landmarks that had built the housing complex.

Seeking further police custody of the two on Tuesday, the prosecution argued that on April 15, the chief engineer of the Pune Municipal Corporation had instructed all the builders in the city to shift settlements of construction workers to safer places, away from walls, trees and nullahs.

"It was the accused's responsibility to inform about such directions to builders from Kanchan Royal Exotica project," the prosecutor said.

The labourers ..