Three days after 12-year-old Chandani Pandey miraculously survived a cement block falling on her from a construction site, the Tulinj police have registered a case against the builder for endangering her life. mid-day had reported on February 19 how the half-kg brick had not only hit her head, but also left a 4.5-cm rusted nail wedged in her skull. Chandani underwent a surgery to remove the nail, and is scheduled for another procedure next month for complete repair of her skull. Her parents had not registered a case, fearing the builder would stop paying for the medical expenses.

However, the very day mid-day's story appeared, the Palghar police swung into action and registered a case on suo motu basis. On the complaint of Hawaldar Shailendra Jagganath Salunkhe, the builder was charged under Sections 336, 337 and 388 of the IPC. Daniel Ben, senior inspector of Tulinj police station, said, "We are scrutinising all the documents to check if the builder was given permission to develop the property. Also, we are checking if the incident invokes sections of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. This can be ascertained after going through all the documents of the ongoing project." The investigating officer, PSI Abhijit Patil, said, "We are yet to record the statement of eyewitnesses in the incident. Prima facie, it seems the builder did not follow any safety precautions, endangering the life of people, including his own labourers."