Published Aug 24, 2026 | 6:24 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 24, 2026 | 6:24 PM
Demolition of a building adjacent to the collapsed under connstruction structure at Anjaiah Nagar, by HYDRAA and Cyberabad Municipal Corporation
Synopsis: Two days after an illegal seven-storey building collapsed in Gachibowli’s Anjaiah Nagar, killing two workers, Cyberabad police arrested owner Syed Sajid while the contractor remains untraced. Separately, HYDRAA and the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) have pulled down at least two more structurally compromised buildings next to the collapse site, and say several more in the locality are now under scrutiny.
Cyberabad police on Sunday, 23 August, arrested Syed Sajid, the owner of the illegally built seven-storey structure that collapsed in Gachibowli, Anjaiah Nagar on 22 August, killing two workers, while his contractor, identified as Khaja Moinuddin, has not yet been found.
A First Information Report registered at the Raidurgam police station names Sajid and Moinuddin as accused under Section 105 read with Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The provisions deal with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and acts done with common intention.
The neighbouring Jayadarshini Residency’s Block C also suffered damage in the collapse, and two elderly people were injured. The residents told police that the G+6 structure on Plot No. 113/131/1, admeasuring 50 square yards, was being built without proper safety precautions by Sajid and Moinuddin.
As debris from Saturday’s collapse was being cleared, HYDRAA and the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) launched a joint operation on Sunday, 23 August, to pull down the badly damaged building standing right next to it. Officials used the high-capacity hydraulic excavator nicknamed the “Bahubali” to dismantle the structure floor by floor, working carefully in a lane where buildings stand only feet apart.
Residents of Block B of the nearby Sterling Whitefield Apartments were evacuated for the duration of the operation, along with an estimated 250 residents of a neighbouring hostel and roughly 25 families from Jayadarshini’s C Block.
As demolition and clearance work continued into Monday, 24 August, HYDRAA Commissioner AV Ranganath toured the site again, along with Kukatpally Zonal Commissioner Mayank Singh.
The officials said that the trouble traced back to violations that were routinely ignored. Permissions for plots in the lane typically allowed only two floors with foundations and pillars designed to carry that load. Yet builders had added five, six or more storeys on top, leaving the structures without the strength to bear their own weight.
“Dangerous buildings in violation of regulations must be demolished,” Ranganath said, adding that officials were working to ensure the removal drive itself did not endanger neighbouring buildings. He said the delay in the demolition work was due to evacuating everyone in the vicinity beforehand.
HYDRAA officials say they are now examining several nearby structures that residents have flagged as unsafe. Many of these buildings were allegedly built without permission or by encroaching on the stormwater drain behind Anjaiah Nagar. Officials said action would follow once the CMC’s town planning wing files a formal report.
CMC Commissioner G Srijana had ordered a special joint drive with HYDRAA to weed out unauthorised buildings in the area. The CMC already suspended Town Planning Building Officer U Santosh Kumar for failing to stop the original construction.
Separately, the CMC’s town planning wing has also sought a police case against Sajid and Farheen Siddiqi, named in civic records as a joint owners of the plot, in addition to the Raidurgam FIR naming Sajid and Moinuddin.
Accoridng to Cyberabad police, the two workers killed in Saturday’s collapse have been identified as Umesh Khare and Mohpal Bhalavi, both tile workers from Madhya Pradesh. Their bodies were handed over to their families on Sunday after postmortem examinations at Osmania General Hospital.
Speaking to South First, Raidurg SHO Bhupati confirmed Syed Sajid’s arrest and said, “We took Sajid into custody in Shamshabad while he was attempting to leave the country from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. We have not yet traced Khaja Moinuddin. He is currently absconding.”
However, as the incident garnered widespread outrage across social media platforms, pressure is mounting on CMC and Cyberabad police to book officials responsible for approving illegal structures.
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(Edited by Sumavarsha)
