Project manager, engineer arrested as Gurugram construction collapse kills seven

A project manager and a structural engineer have been arrested after seven labourers were killed and four others injured when a mound of soil collapsed at a construction site in Gurugram’s Sidhrawali area , police said on Tuesday, as authorities began probing alleged safety lapses.

The accused have been identified as Dinesh Veer, the project manager, and Vikas Pandey, the structural engineer, who were overseeing work at the site. Police said several other people named in the FIR are yet to be traced.

The incident occurred at around 7 pm on Monday at the Signature Global residential project “City of Colours” in village Sidhrawali along NH-8, where excavation work was underway for a sewerage treatment plant (STP) .

Officials said a 30 to 40-foot-deep excavation pit had been dug at the site and about 25 workers were engaged in construction when the soil suddenly caved in, trapping several labourers beneath the debris.

Police teams from Bilaspur police station, along with personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) , rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operations. The injured were taken to a hospital in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, where seven labourers were declared dead.

Doctors said some workers suffered severe injuries after falling onto exposed iron reinforcement rods inside the pit when the soil collapsed. Officials also said several victims appeared to have died due to asphyxiation.

Police registered a case under Sections 105 and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The FIR also names Signature Global’s “City of Colours” project and contractor Balajee Infratech and Construction Ltd .

Authorities have halted construction and ordered an inquiry, while families of the victims alleged workers were operating inside a deep “kutcha” pit without proper safety arrangements .