4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 31, 2026 07:57 PM IST
For the family of Ravi Prakash (26), the dream of seeing him become a doctor came to a tragic end on Saturday when he died in the collapse of a four-storey building in Saidullajab near Saket in South Delhi on Saturday evening.
Ravi, the eldest of five siblings and the son of a farmer from Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, had completed his MBBS in Kyrgyzstan. He was preparing for the Foreign Medical Graduate (FMG) examination, a screening test mandatory for foreign graduates in India.
Nalin (22), who hailed from Nalanda, Bihar, was also the son of a farmer. He had moved to Delhi six months ago to prepare for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), national-level entrance test conducted for admission to technical postgraduate programmes, and was staying in a paying guest (PG) accommodation in Saidullajab.
Family members and friends of those feared trapped wait anxiously for updates
outside the debris site. (Express Photo by Shreya Singhai)
Ravi and Nalin were among six people who died when the four-storey building collapsed in Saidullajab village, located near Saket Metro Station in the Mehrauli area.
Three others —Ekta, Alok and Kapil — who were killed were also students. Their bodies were recovered from the rubble as the rescue operation continued on Sunday and ended 18 hours after it started. Ekta was also an MBBS aspirant, while Alok and Kapil were preparing for GATE.
According to the police, around 20 people — most of them students living in PGs and rented accommodations nearby — had gathered at a kitchen adjacent to the building for dinner when the structure came crashing down at around 7.15 pm.
The sixth victim was Parvati, who ran the kitchen. She was said to be preparing an order of 16 parathas for students when the tragedy unfolded.
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Ravi’s uncle, Jaiprakash, told The Indian Express that his nephew had been living in a PG accommodation and had returned from Kyrgyzstan a year ago to prepare for the FMG examination.
“His father is a farmer, and the family was hoping that he would become a doctor,” Jaiprakash said.
Ekta’s father, who had rushed to the site from Alwar in Rajasthan, spent hours waiting anxiously for news of his daughter.
Express Photo by Shreya Singhai.
“Yesterday afternoon, we spoke on the phone for about 17 to 18 minutes. She also spoke with her mother and brother,” he said.
“But calling home around 7.30 pm was part of her daily routine. Yesterday, she didn’t call. Later, one of her friends informed us that some mishap had occurred near her coaching centre. We immediately rushed to Delhi,” he added.
Ekta’s body was recovered from the debris at around 2 pm on Sunday.
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Parvati, 35, had been running the kitchen with her family for over a year. Many students living in nearby PG accommodations regularly ate there. Her body was recovered nearly 16 hours after the rescue operation began.
Police said that, prima facie, illegal construction work appeared to have been underway on the upper floors of the building for the past several months, due to which the incident took place.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has suspended two engineers responsible for the area of dereliction of duty and negligence in connection with the incident.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visits the site. (Express Photo by Shreya Singhai)
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited the site on Sunday to review the rescue operation. She said that no one responsible for the tragedy would be spared.
Police have detained the building owner and registered an FIR in connection with the case. Further investigation is underway.
