Mumbra crash victims' kin move court

THANE: Families of five victi­ms of the building collapse at Sh­ilphata on April 4 moved Th­ane sessions court on Wednesday. They demanded that the builders and the civic officials be awarded severe punishment and be tried on charges of conspiracy for murder.
Intervening applications were moved before special sessions Judge K Warrier by the five families arguing that the accused builders, Salim Shaikh and Jamil Qureshi, had an ulterior motive in providing accommodation to their relatives in the illegal and poorly constructed seven-storey building at Lucky Compound in Shilphata.
The applicants alleged that the builders shared bitter relations with the victims' family and had deliberately offered them rental accommodation for free as they knew that it would come crashing sooner or later.
Meanwhile, the special sessions court is likely to give its order on Thursday in the bail application of Shaikh, Qureshi and TMC official Ramesh Inamdar. Their advocates argued that Thane crime branch failed to file a charge sheet in stipulated 60 days.