The Mumbai Police Wednesday searched the office of architect Ranjit Agale, who allegedly drew up plans for a renovated nursing and maternity home on the ground floor of Ghatkopar’s Siddhi Sai cooperative housing society, and seized three hard disks. Agale has been absconding since the collapse of the four-storey building last week. The revamp was taking place allegedly on the behest of the building’s secretary and nursing home owner Sunil Shitap. The Park Site police station is investigating the alleged negligence that resulted in the collapse of the building and the death of 17 people. The police informed magistrate S S Pallod of the Vikhroli court Wednesday that they had identified Agale’s office in Ghatkopar (East) and searched the premises. The police also told the court they had seized hard disks from three computers found in Agale’s office and were examining them to find out about plans he made for Shitap’s new maternity home. They requested for more time to arrest Agale. Shitap and site contractor Anil Mandal were produced in court Wednesday after the end of their police custody. Public Prosecutor Vaishali Aghawne argued that the police needed more time to study the communication between the duo pertaining to the construction. “We found WhatsApp messages on the cellphones of both the accused that they had sent to each other. We need to interrogate them together about the messages,” she argued. Shitap’s laywer, however, argued that his client was ready to be interrogated by the police. “Let the police investigate this properly so that they find out who is at fault, especially the BMC that is responsible for the upkeep of the building,” he said. He added that Shitap could not be held responsible for the building’s collapse as on the morning of July 25, minutes before the structure crumbled, he had walked out of it and exchanged pleasantries with a resident, Lalchand Ramchandni. The FIR has been filed on Ramchandni’s complaint. “He said namasklar to me (Shitap) and I waved at him,” the lawyer claimed. Mandal’s lawyer claimed that he had only been working as an assistant on the site. “He only started working in March 2017 after completing a three-year design course. He was working under a supervisor and earning Rs 7,000 a month,” argued the lawyer. The court remanded both the men in police custody till August 7. Meanwhile, the police have received original plans of the building from the BMC, with details of the permissions that Shitap sought in 2009 to convert his two flats to a nursing home. From the site where the building stood, the police recovered an old banner bearing the name of the nursing home as well as tools used to carry out the renovation. An officer said statements of seven-eight labourers who worked on the renovation have been recorded and they would be made witnesses in the police’s case.
