Two scrap dealers and one of their employees were on Friday arrested in connection with the collapse of a century-old building in south Mumbai in which five persons were killed, the police said.
The “Dwarkadas” building at Bhendi Bazaar came crashing down on Thursday after a CNG cylinder exploded in its ground-floor scrap shop owned by Mohammad Aslam Ghani (39) and Riyazaul Hassan Shaik (49).
Ghani, Hassan and one of their employees, Mohammad Ismail Shaikh (22) were arrested for causing death due to negligence, said K.A. Patil, senior inspector at the J.J. Marg police station.
The blast occurred at 10.30 am when Mohammed Ismail was emptying the CNG cylinder with the help of a pipe, he said.
The building, constructed before 1940 and falls under the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority jurisdiction, was repaired four years ago, police said.
The building is likely to be demolished by authorities concerned, the police said, adding all families living in it have been moved to Dharavi Transit Camp. Besides the five casualties, 26 people were injured in the incident.