Delhi court on Wednesday, September 9, put the building owner's son, PG operator, and labor contractor in two days of police custody in connection with the tragic incident of the building falling down in Satya Niketan, resulting in seven deaths on Sunday.
Justice Kautuk Bharadwaj of Patiala House Court ordered the two days of police custody for the three accused—Mahesh Gupta, PG operator Sudhanshu, and contractor Sanoj—after the Delhi Police requested three days of custody for the trio.
This order comes at a time when two others, who own the building, are already behind bars in a case that shows the police think culpability for the accident could be much more than just that of the building owners.
52-year-old Mahesh Gupta, son of the owner of the building, Hariram Gupta, appeared in court after a period of two days of police custody after his first arrest.
While Sudhanshu and Sanoj were brought separately to court, as they had been arrested a day ago, on Tuesday.
Police stated that custody interrogation of all three individuals was necessary in order to trace the chronology of events that caused the collapse of the building.
They needed to question them about the ownership of the building, leasing conditions for its operation, and details about the renovation of the building, which collapsed.
However, the magistrate granted only two days instead of the three days asked for by the police.
The proceedings themselves turned into a minor flashpoint. The hearings were conducted in camera, and journalists were asked to exit the courtroom during arguments.
This came after an objection raised by Sudhanshu's lawyer that the excessive media attention surrounding the case was making it a "media trial," which could prejudice the investigation that was taking place. The judge accepted the objection and proceeded with the remand hearing after clearing the room.
The incident underscores the extent of attention that the case is receiving from the media and the public, considering that seven people died in one of the busiest student hostels in Delhi.
Most of the efforts by the police have been focused on how the building had become a hostel in the first place.
It seems that Mahesh Gupta had leased the property to Sudhanshu and his business partner Shubham Tyagi in the month of August 2025. Sudhanshu and his business partner went on to run the property as a paying guest hostel called 'Hostel Daze' that catered mainly to students from nearby colleges of Delhi University.
It has been reported by the police that the current business partner of Sudhanshu, Tyagi, is on the run and cannot be traced. It is not known what was the exact part played by Tyagi in running the property.
The labor contractor Sanoj was detained and escorted to Delhi from Kasganj in the state of Uttar Pradesh, from where he was believed to have been staying after the incident.
As per the police report, the answers by Sanoj gave one of the clearest descriptions about why repair work was being carried out on the building. Sanoj is reported to have told the investigating authorities that repair works were being conducted in the basement because of the accumulation of waste water in the basement in the monsoon season in the last eight to ten days.
In addition to this, it is reported that repairs were being carried out on the ground floor of the building so as to create a commercial space expansion.
Both these claims remain unverified outside of the reports provided by the police regarding Sanoj's answers, and further investigation into the issue is currently underway.
The new order issued on Wednesday comes against a background of custody dates that started the very next day following the tragedy.
The owner of the building, Hariram Gupta, who is an 81-year-old retired Indian Air Force sergeant, and his 75-year-old wife, Urmila, were remanded into judicial custody for 14 days on Monday after Hariram was found in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, having supposedly been in hiding after coming to know about the collapse.
His son, Mahesh, was taken into custody along with him on that same day and was kept in police custody for two days.
According to the police, there are several factors that are being investigated regarding the collapse of the building. These include charges of negligence in taking care of the structure, breaking of building norms, making unapproved changes to the structure, and failure to supervise the repair process going on inside the building.
The five-story building collapsed on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm when repair work was being done on the basement and ground floor, burying students and laborers under the ruins of the building. The rescue process involved the National Disaster Response Force and the Delhi Fire Service and lasted 27 hours until Monday evening.
None of the charges made against the accused has been proved in court, and officials warn that the exact sequence of events leading to the collapse of the building is yet to be known.
The repercussions of the collapse have reached far beyond the court room. Delhi's Chief Minister Rekha Gupta this week ordered the demolition of another building located right next to the collapsed building, based on the findings of the municipal authorities that it was structurally unsound.
Five people from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have been suspended in connection with this tragedy.
This is going hand in hand with the criminal proceedings being carried out in court as the city tries to deal with the guilty parties and prevent a recurrence of the same problem at the next location.
Having arrested Mahesh Gupta, Sudhanshu, and Sanoj for two additional days, the investigations are likely to question each one about his own involvement, ranging from the terms of the initial lease agreement to the repairs carried out at the basement and also the commercial extension to be set up at the ground floor level.
Shubham Tyagi, who is a business partner accused of running the PG and who is an absconder, is yet to be traced by the police. His involvement might reveal more about the state of structural damage in the building where the hostel was operating.
