Arpit, a second-year student at Delhi University’s Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm College, had returned to Delhi from his home in Madhya Pradesh that very morning after spending Rakshabandhan with his family.
His mother had tried to stop him from travelling, gripped by a fear that something might happen to him.
“At the railway station, his sister sneezed, which I considered an ominous sign, and I told him not to travel. But he insisted that his ticket was confirmed and that his classes were also about to start," she told PTI.
Arpit left despite her pleas. It was the last journey he would make.
Around 1.30 pm, the multi-storey building housing a boys’ paying guest accommodation in south Delhi’s Satya Niketan area, near Delhi University’s South Campus, collapsed while repair work was underway. Arpit was among those trapped beneath the debris.
Twelve people were rescued from the rubble, seven of whom died.
Every call that followed Arpit’s last conversation with his mother went unanswered.
When she finally saw her son’s body, she collapsed and had to be admitted to AIIMS. Even after regaining consciousness, she remained unable to come to terms with his death.
Crying inconsolably, she kept saying she would not eat until Arpit came home and fed her with his own hands.
The tragedy also left her grappling with the fear she had before Arpit left.
“Why did I let him come to Delhi? I had a feeling that something bad would happen," she said, breaking down.
For his friend Sanskar, 20, who had studied alongside Arpit for the past one-and-a-half years, the loss has shattered plans they had made only days earlier.
“We were very close. He was one of the best people I had ever met. Both he and I arrived in Delhi on the same day. He was celebrating Rakshabandhan with his family. He had even told me that we would go to a concert in Delhi University," Sanskar told PTI.
The two were also supposed to attend college together on Monday.
“We were supposed to go to college today, but fate had different plans," he said, as Arpit’s friends gathered outside the hospital, struggling to hold back their tears.
Arpit’s friends had spent hours searching for him after learning about the collapse.
The owner of the building, identified as Hariram Gupta, was apprehended from Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi area on Monday, Delhi Police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Amit Goel said Gupta was apprehended from Bhiwadi and further examination in connection with the case was underway.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has ordered a wider inspection of buildings across its zones following the collapse.
The MCD on Monday directed executive engineers (building) in all zones to inspect structures under their jurisdiction and submit comprehensive reports by September 10.
The information gathered during the inspections will be incorporated into an affidavit to be filed before the Delhi High Court within 10 days, officials said.
The inspections will be personally monitored by the additional commissioners concerned in each zone.
In a separate administrative move, IAS officer Shashvat Saurabh was given additional charge of the MCD’s South Zone after Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar was suspended on Monday. Kumar and four engineering officials were suspended pending disciplinary proceedings following the collapse.
The five-storey building, which housed a boys’ PG near Delhi University’s South Campus, collapsed around 1.30 pm on Sunday while repair work was in progress, trapping students under the debris.
Seven people are dead, and five injured as the 27-hour rescue operation came to a tragic end on Monday.
The death toll in the Satya Niketan building collapse rose to seven on Monday.
AIIMS said 11 patients had been received at the JPN Apex Trauma Centre, of whom five were brought dead, and one critically injured patient later succumbed to injuries. Three patients remained admitted and were being treated; one underwent limb surgery and another, who sustained a minor injury, was discharged after observation.
The collapse has left Arpit’s family and friends mourning his death while authorities continue inspections, investigations and administrative action following the tragedy.
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