Chawri Bazar collapse: 3 contractors arrested, 2 workers killed

Illustration: NewsPlainly. Not a photograph of the event.

Why it matters

Old Delhi's narrow lanes are packed with old buildings, and a collapse there is hard to reach and hard to rescue from. The case tests whether a written police warning to the MCD is acted on, and the inquiry will decide who answers for the five months between that letter and the two deaths.

Delhi Police have arrested three contractors over the Chawri Bazar collapse, in which an under-construction building near the Chawri Bazar Metro station in Old Delhi came down on the morning of Thursday, 5 November 2026, killing two workers. The men were picked up from Sirohi village in Faridabad’s Dauj tehsil and have been booked under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Hindustan Times reported on Friday morning, citing police.

The arrests come as records show the Delhi Police had warned the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) about unauthorised building work at the same address in June, nearly five months before the collapse.

What happened at the Chawri Bazar building

The building stood in a narrow lane of the Ajmeri Gate area, close to the Chawri Bazar Metro station. It had a ground floor and three upper floors and was still being built when it fell at about 9.30 am, according to Hindustan Times.

Accounts of how it fell differ slightly. Hindustan Times reported that the lintel of the third floor gave way while concrete work was going on, and that the rest of the floors followed within 15 to 20 minutes. The MCD, as quoted by The Hindu, said the structure collapsed while the shuttering, the temporary frame that holds wet concrete, was being taken off the third-floor roof. That roof had been cast about 15 days earlier, The Hindu reported.

Two workers, aged 40 and 45, died. The Times of India, citing the Delhi Fire Service, reported that seven people were pulled out of the rubble and two of them did not survive. On Thursday, teams from the Delhi Police, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the fire service and the MCD were still searching for others who might be trapped, the paper said. Hindustan Times, in its report on the arrests, put the toll at two dead and two injured. The reports read did not give a final count of anyone still missing.

Rescue work was slowed by the walled city’s lanes, which were too narrow for heavy machinery, so much of the debris was cleared by hand, Hindustan Times reported. Residents of two neighbouring buildings were moved out after police found cracks in one and a caved-in section under a beam in the other, according to The Hindu.

Police warned the MCD in June

A letter dated 15 June 2026 from the station house officer of Hauz Qazi police station told the MCD’s deputy commissioner for the City-SP Zone (now the Old Delhi Zone) that unauthorised construction was under way at property numbers 4547-48 and asked for action. The Hindu said it had seen the letter; Hindustan Times reported the same letter.

The MCD first said it had received no complaint before the collapse, The Hindu reported. After the letter surfaced, the civic body said an inspection had been carried out and found repair work going on. Its maintenance department had written to the owner on 28 April 2026 about the building’s poor condition, asking for strengthening work under a qualified structural engineer and a structural stability certificate.

The MCD’s preliminary inquiry now alleges that the owner used that repair advice as cover to build new second and third floors without permission. A senior MCD official told The Hindu that no building plan had been sanctioned for the work. The civic body has also asked the police to register an FIR against the owner.

Record	What it said about the building
Owner’s property tax return	Ground plus four floors, about 80 square metres covered (The Hindu)
Police letter, 15 June 2026	New residential construction on about 70 square yards (Hindustan Times)
MCD preliminary inquiry	Ground plus three floors on a 45 square yard plot (The Hindu)

Chawri Bazar collapse case: who has been held responsible so far

The First Information Report (FIR) is under Section 105 of the BNS, which covers culpable homicide not amounting to murder: causing a death without the intent that makes it murder. The Times of India reported that the FIR names the building’s owner and the contractors. Only the three contractors have been arrested, according to the reports read. Under Indian law, they are accused, and a court will decide whether the charge holds.

The deputy commissioner of police for Central district, Rohit Rajbir Singh, identified the three as residents of the Ajmeri Gate area, Hindustan Times reported. Police said the investigation into how the work was carried out is continuing.

On the civic side, the MCD has suspended the junior engineer and the assistant engineer responsible for the area. The Times of India reported that the MCD cited prima facie “severe dereliction of duty”. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who visited the site with minister Ashish Sood and Union minister of state Harsh Malhotra, ordered the suspensions, a detailed inquiry, an FIR against the contractor and ex gratia payments for the families of the dead, according to Hindustan Times and the Times of India.

Timeline: from repair notice to arrests

• 28 April 2026: MCD maintenance department tells the owner the building is in poor condition and must be strengthened under a structural engineer (The Hindu).
• 15 June 2026: Hauz Qazi police write to the MCD about unauthorised construction at the address.
• About 21 October 2026: the third-floor roof is cast, about 15 days before the collapse (The Hindu’s report; NewsPlainly’s date from that figure).
• 5 November, about 9.30 am: the building collapses; two workers die.
• 5 November: MCD suspends the junior and assistant engineers; an FIR is registered under BNS Section 105.
• Night of 5 to 6 November: three contractors arrested in Faridabad.
• Within three days: MCD Standing Committee chairperson Satya Sharma has asked officials for an inquiry report (The Hindu).

By NewsPlainly’s count, 143 days passed between the police letter and the collapse.

Fourth major collapse in Delhi in three months

The Times of India counted this as the fourth major building collapse in Delhi in three months. The Hindu recalled two of the others: seven people died when a building collapsed in Satya Niketan in September, and five died in a later collapse in Seemapuri.

After those deaths, the city began an audit and a crackdown on hundreds of unauthorised and unsafe buildings. Officials told The Hindu that the Chawri Bazar property had not been listed as unsafe or unauthorised during that drive. The MCD has now started a survey of the buildings next to the collapsed one, using qualified engineers, to check whether they are safe to live in.

For people who live in Old Delhi’s older buildings, the case raises a practical point. A repair notice from the MCD asks for strengthening under an engineer and a stability certificate; it is not permission to add floors. The MCD’s own inquiry says that line was crossed here, and the inquiry report the MCD has asked for is meant to fix responsibility for the work that went on after the June warning.

More Delhi NCR stories are on our Delhi NCR page. The Hindu’s report on the police letter is here.

Frequently asked questions

How many people died in the Chawri Bazar building collapse?

Two workers, aged 40 and 45, died. The Times of India, citing the Delhi Fire Service, said seven people were pulled from the rubble.

Who has been arrested for the Chawri Bazar collapse?

Three contractors, picked up from Sirohi village in Faridabad, Hindustan Times reported on 6 November 2026. The FIR also names the owner, according to the Times of India.

Was the Chawri Bazar building legal?

A senior MCD official told The Hindu no building plan had been sanctioned. The MCD's preliminary inquiry alleges new floors were built under the cover of repair work.