Overview
- Gonsalves, who heads VVMC Ward C, was taken into custody late Thursday night by MBVV police after Crime Branch officials registered a case.
- Investigators say he did not initiate MRTP proceedings or ensure evacuation despite Ramabai Apartment being flagged as dangerous and unauthorised.
- With this arrest, six people are now booked in the case, including developer Neetal Sane and the landowners with their husbands, with some previously granted bail.
- The four-storey building, housing about 50 flats, collapsed on August 26 in Virar East, killing 17 residents and injuring nine, and was later confirmed illegal and built with substandard materials.
- The probe was handed to Mumbai Police Crime Branch Unit-3 by Commissioner Niket Kaushik, and Gonsalves’ anticipatory-bail plea in the Vasai court was rejected.