In a major development in the Virar building collapse investigation, the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation’s (VVCMC) assistant municipal commissioner, Gilson Gonsalves, has been arrested. He was called in for questioning on Thursday evening and taken into custody around midnight.
According to the probe, both Gonsalves and fellow assistant municipal commissioner Subhash Jadhav were aware that Ramabai Apartment in Virar East was an unauthorised construction. Despite this, they failed to take action or register an FIR under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966.
Investigators also discovered that the civic body had provided the illegal building with a water connection and had been collecting municipal taxes, even though the owners and developers lacked valid approvals. Initially marked as suspects, both officials were formally charged after further inquiry.
Meanwhile, building developer Nittal Sane has been in custody since his arrest in August. The landowner’s two daughters and their spouses—earlier named as accused—were later granted bail.
The rear portion of the five-storey Ramabai Apartment collapsed shortly after midnight on August 27, claiming 17 lives and injuring nine others, prompting an extensive probe into the civic lapses that allowed the structure to stand.