‘Dumb phone’, Rs 1.8 crore contract: Saket building collapse probe reveals fresh details

3 min readNew DelhiJun 10, 2026 12:08 PM IST

A few days before the building collapsed, excavation work was carried out in its basement to install a water tank. The police suspect that this may have further weakened the structure. (Express Photo by Shreya Singhai)

A “dumb phone” to avoid police surveillance, a Rs 1.8-crore contract to construct two illegal floors — these are among the key findings that have emerged after Delhi Police arrested two contractors in connection with the Saket building collapse case that killed six people on May 30.

Police said the duo, Manish Khatri and Avinesh Gupta, were nabbed near the office of Khatri’s lawyer in Vasant Kunj around 4 pm on Tuesday. Earlier, the owner of the building, Karambir Sejwal, had been arrested in connection with the case.

“Khatri used a dumb phone — a basic mobile device meant for calls and texts — in order to escape tracking. Right after the building collapsed, he fled to Manali initially, and then to Dehradun,” a police source said.

A team led by Inspector Ajay Yadav of the Mehrauli police station tracked Khatri across the hill towns, but the absence of a smartphone made it difficult to pinpoint his location. Investigators said he frequently changed motels to avoid detection.

“On Monday night, we got a tip that he and Gupta would be coming to meet their lawyer in Vasant Kunj. A trap was laid, and he was arrested on Tuesday afternoon,” said a source.

According to sources in the police, Khatri is the relative of Sejwal – who was arrested from his farmhouse in Green Avenue in Vasant Kunj on Monday – and has allegedly been involved in several illegal construction projects in Saidulajab and nearby areas.

“He was also involved in the construction of two other properties owned by Sejwal in Paryavaran Colony. His company is around eight years old. For this project in Saidulajab in Saket, Khatri and Gupta were awarded a contract worth Rs 1.8 crore,” a police official said.

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Police said the probe so far has found that the building that collapsed had been constructed eight years ago and that its basement was not structurally capable of bearing the additional load of two more floors.

“One extra floor had already been constructed, while work on another was underway. However, construction had reportedly been halted for several days due to a payment dispute when the building collapsed,” said a source.

A few days before the building collapsed, excavation work was carried out in its basement to install a water tank. The police suspect that this may have further weakened the structure.

The six victims include five medical and engineering graduates preparing for competitive exams and one woman who ran a makeshift eatery next to the building. The students were eating at her eatery when the building collapsed and the structure fell on the eatery, burying them under the debris.