Hyderabad: The decision to move to a rented house from their temporary shelter proved fatal for GHMC sweeper Raju and his family. In just one and half days after they moved to a dilapidated house in the Weaker Section Colony, Devayya Basti in the Borabanda a sudden tragedy claimed two lives on Monday midnight.

Raju’s two kids were killed and he and his wife were seriously injured when a wall and a part of the roof of their house collapsed. Even though the wall was constructed illegally by the house owner violating GHMC norms the SR nagar police has not booked any case against him. The cops have booked a case only under Section 174 for ‘suspicious death’.

The two kids, Saicharan, 2 and Navya, 3, were trapped under the debris and were brought dead to a private hospital in the city. Raju and his wife, Jyothi were admitted to Gandhi hospital.

The incident occurred after 11.30 pm when the kids were fast asleep and the couple were about to sleep after dinner.

“The kids were sleeping near the wall and it suddenly started collapsing. I tried to catch the bricks, however, I could not as it fell on us,” said an injured Raju.

A neighbour heard the scream and sound of the collapse and alerted locals, who rushed to the spot and tried to remove the debris.

By the time, the kids were pulled out of the rubble they had suffered serious injuries. Locals said that some clinics in the area refused to give treatment to the kids saying the injuries were too serious. They were rushed to a corporate hospital where they were declared dead.

Local sources said the house owner Mr Kanakaiah is a watchman in Jubilee Hills. The house was given to him by the government under a welfare scheme for weaker sections. He constructed a wall illegally inside the house to separate a hall and made it into two rooms. It was weak and poorly built. But he had not warned Raju and family about its condition.

The police has not booked any case for negligence. “We have booked a case under CrPc 176,” said SR nagar inspector G.V. Ramana Goud.