mumbai a sessions court has acquitted a 55yearold businessman kailash jain the owner of two shops in borivlis laxmi chhaya building of the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder the building collapsed 16 years ago leading to the deaths of 30 residents the court observed that the responsibility of conducting a structural audit required to be done after 30 years of building construction rested with the housing society it noted that the quality of construction was poor which led to the collapse jain who lost three family members in the incident was accused of carrying out repairs that weakened the structure and caused it to crumblethe court pointed out that the housing society had obviously failed to conduct the mandatory structural audit first after three decades and every five years thereafter moreover the prosecution did not produce any evidence to indicate that the structural audit was ever conducted before the 2007 collapse the court noted that there were clear indicators that the quality of construction was poor such as cement falling from the pillars and the opening of the iron rods of the pillars these factors suggest that the builder and contractor used substandard materials to construct the building resulting in the damage and eventual collapse the court said remarking that it was possible that the accused was made a scapegoat in the casethe court said the accused cannot be held responsible for the collapse of the building and the deaths and injuries in the absence of cogent consistent and convincing evidence particularly when three of his family members too died the incident occurred on july 18 2007 around 6pm in borivli west the building was constructed in 197980 there were two wings with 6 floors in each the society comprised 25 shops on the ground floor and 48 residential flats on the remaining floors about 200 people were residing in itthe main allegation against the accused was that he removed the middle wall between two flats and chopped pillars removing cement from them due to which damage was caused to the building the court said the prosecution had not adduced direct oral or documentary evidence to prove this the court said that from the evidence of a civil engineering consultant it was evident that there was no connection between the work in the shop and the weak structure of the building moreover it is clearly evident from the cross examination of the architect that the removing of the wall between two shops does not make any problem or difference to the building or its structure by the accused the court said it said that it was not proved that the accused committed culpable homicide not amounting to murder by intentionally or knowingly causing the death of residents by tampering with critical structural columns beams and partition walldefence advocates rishi bhuta and neha patil represented jain before the sessions court and denied that the structure collapsed due to the work in the shop