New Delhi: It was around 6 pm on Saturday that Kapil invited his flatmates and friends from a coaching centre to a treat. “Party on me today. I think I’ll be joining Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC),” the 28-year-old texted his friends. At 6.30 pm, Kapil left his rented room in Saidulajab—officially Said-ul-Ajaib—and walked less than half-a-kilometre to a popular nearby canteen run by Parvati, a Nepali national. Soon, six of his friends had joined him; flatmate Adarsh was running late.
But it wasn’t to be.
Way past 7 pm, Adarsh was hurrying to his waiting friends and had less than 100 metres to go when away he saw a cloud of dust rise from the canteen area followed by a loud noise. “The building collapsed almost like a house of cards. For a few minutes onlookers were too stunned to react. As they realised what happened people rushed to rescue all the students and staffers who were there,” said Adarsh, an aspirant for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).
With no idea about how many of his friends had actually reached the canteen, Adarsh began calling all six, he told ThePrint. “I first tried calling Kapil, then I dialled Anuj and Nalin, but none were reachable,” he said, standing at the AIIMS Trauma Centre. In the next couple of hours, police vans and fire tenders rushed in, but it was not till midnight that the authorities informed friends and relatives of the victims, he added.
The police received a call at about 7:35 p.m. regarding the collapse of the building near the Saket Metro station. Six persons died and eight others were hurt, according to Delhi Government officials.
It was only by 1 am that Adarsh learnt of his flatmate Kapil succumbing to his injuries. “Out of all our friends who had joined Kapil to celebrate his BARC admission milestone and on getting an interview call from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Kapil, Nalin and Alok succumbed to their injuries; we could not even recognise them,” he said. Kapil, a resident of Banda, Uttar Pradesh had been preparing for the GATE for the past six months.
The dust of the collapse had barely settled when political accusations started flying thick and fast. On Sunday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) of working in connivance with the builder of the collapsed structure. “There is a case in the Delhi High Court about the illegal construction of this building, and another complaint to the Delhi Police about the building tilting… despite that construction has been allowed to happen,” Bharadwaj said.
According to court documents accessed by ThePrint, the petitioner sought the stopping of “illegal construction” in Saidulajab opposite Anupam Apartments Gate No. 4. “Mr Roshan Lal Goel, counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent/MCD submits that no construction whatsoever is going on in the subject property,” the document reads.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta stepped in quickly, saying that strict action would be taken against all unauthorised construction. “Accountability will be fixed for negligence at every level. No builder, official, or authority is above the law. Violations will not be tolerated. The Delhi Government stands with its people: committed to justice, accountability, and public safety,” she posted on social media platform X.
That’s of little help to the dead and bereaved. Said Rajat, who received a call from the hospital authorities to recognise his friend Alok Verma’s body: “Alok and I had gone to the same canteen to have lunch in the afternoon. Who knew that would be the last time we shared a meal together?” He told ThePrint that Alok’s “entire body had lost shape”, and could only be identified by the bracelet he wore. Verma, a resident of Lucknow, had been preparing for the Indian Engineering Services in Delhi since December 2025.
Parvati, who ran the canteen, had called his daughter minutes before the incident. “She called me to quickly come and help her out, but by the time I rushed to the canteen, it was all dust and rubble and everyone was screaming,” her daughter told ThePrint.
Parvati’s sister-in-law Gauri told ThePrint that the deceased had opened the canteen some nine months back; it had been a hit. “Young office-goers and students would flock to the canteen, saying she made the best home-cooked food in the neighbourhood,” Gauri said.
According to Delhi Government officials, six persons—Ravi (24), Kapil (28), Nalin (23), Alok (28), Parvati (48) and Ekta—died of their injuries while Kshitij Pratap (25), Anuj Dixit (22), Aastha (26), Aditya Sharma (24), Vishal (25), Neelam Yadav (25), Tarun (25), and Saika Khan (27) were injured. The dead in the incident include Foreign Medical Graduate Examination aspirants, Indian Engineering Services aspirants and the owner of the canteen.
Following the incident, the MCD suspended Aman Jain, Junior Engineer (Building Department), and Sudesh Singh Chouhan Assistant Engineer (Building Department). “Hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect, on the ground of de-reliction of duties and slackness on his part, in the matter of collapse of Property-identified with Kh. No. 262, Gali no. 5, Western Marg, Said-ul- Azaib, New Delhi on 30.05.2026,” read the document accessed by ThePrint.
The Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unknown persons under Section 105 (culpable homicide), 290 (negligent conduct), 125 (2) (rash or negligence endangering human life) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, DCP (South) Anant Mittal said. The officer added that several teams had been formed and raids are being conducted to identify the accused.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the building’s foundation and basement structure were weak, a senior Delhi Police official told The Print. The building allegedly housed offices of startups and other private concerns. “The owner, a resident of Vasant Kunj, owns several plots across South Delhi from which he earns rental income,” said the officer. Further, the Delhi Police on two occasions had also written to the MCD about the “additional floors being constructed” after noting that several buildings in the area went beyond the permission to build four floors.
“When the building collapsed there was only one person on the ground floor who was later brought out from the rubble, all other floors were empty,” the official said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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