House collapses in Indore's Murai Mohalla; all residents safely rescued

Speaking to ANI, one of the residents, Nilesh Sen Shelu, said, "My house is in Murai Mohalla. For the last four to five days, the municipal corporation has been working on a drainage line here. They were laying pipes from the corner to this spot. While digging with a JCB, they hit this old house belonging to Rakesh Garg. I have a video of this; it is completely damaged. There was a salon shop below where the pipes were being laid."

"Earlier this afternoon, I told Gaurav Khandelwal that the house was cracking and something might happen. My children were playing here. When they heard a loud noise around 9:00 PM, they ran away. Rakesh Garg's family runs a general store here, and Gaurav Khandelwal has an office next door. Naresh Modi also ran a tuition centre here. Thankfully, no one was inside because it's exam season and today is a Saturday. The building that fell belongs to Rakesh Garg, and it fell onto Naresh Modi's house, which is now partially destroyed. This is due to the municipal corporation's negligence. Some local public representatives were even having a verbal spat here. Chintu Choukse (an opposition leader) also visited and said he would meet with the municipal commissioner and the mayor on Monday," Nilesh added.

Additional DCP (Zone 3) Ram Sanehi Mishra said, "This evening, an old building in Murai Mohalla collapsed. The building belongs to Rakesh Garg. It fell onto Naresh's house next door. Everyone was safely evacuated, and there were no casualties. We have called the municipal and electrical teams. The power has been cut off. There was a verbal spat between local public representatives over a previous encroachment issue, but they have been separated. The collapse seems to be due to the building's age, though experts will confirm the exact cause." (ANI)