Police on Saturday arrested City Light Hotel owner Syed Hassan Baluki, holding him responsible for the collapse of the building, in which 18 people lost their lives, most of them hotel workers.
Among those dead in the building collapse were the hotel owner’s son and nephew. Mr. Baluki had fallen sick and gone into depression after the incident.
Police said cases under IPC Sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) had been registered against Baluki. He was later produced him before the court which remanded him to judicial custody.
The setting up of heavy boilers in the kitchen of the decades-old building to prepare Haleem – a popular Ramzan delicacy – might have added to the pressure on the structure, resulting in the collapse. Police said the hotel owner had also made some cosmetic repairs to pass the building off as new.