The Supertech twin towers, 100-metre tall buildings located in Delhi suburb Noida, were demolished within seconds on Sunday in a series of explosions set off with 3700 kilos of explosives. A man called Chetan Dutta pressed the button to demolish the towers, deemed illegally constructed by the highest court of India, the Supreme Court. 

The building had two towers with 32 and 29 storeys called Apex and Ceyane, both taller than the famous Qutub Minar. They dwarfed buildings around them till they were brought down on Sunday afternoon in a thick cloud of grey smoke. 

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Here are 5 facts about Chetan Dutta: 

1) Chetan Dutta is 49 years old and he lives in Hisar, Haryana.

2) Chetan Dutta runs a firm that is involved in building demolitions.

3) He has earlier demolished thermal power stations, mines, and other buildings.

4) This was Chetan Dutta’s first apartment complex blast.

5) Edifice Engineering, which was tasked with demolishing the towers, approached him to act as a blaster.

Ahead of the planned explosions, Dutta said that the demolition plan would be straightforward. He said they would first generate electricity using a dynamo. Then click the button. This would set off the detonators in each shock tube. All of the detonators would be activated in 9 seconds, grounding the entire building. 

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Talking about the opportunity, Dutta said – “when the Supreme Court’s decision came, someone forwarded a message (about it) on WhatsApp, and I prayed to God that I should be given an opportunity to demolish the building. I did not expect to be chosen though…months later, in July, Edifice approached me and my firm for the loading of explosives.”

The Noida Authority and Supertech had engaged in “nefarious complicity,” according to the Supreme Court, which ordered that the business demolish the building at its own expense under the guidance of the Noida Authority and an expert organisation like the Central Building Research Institute.

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The decision was made in response to a number of petitions submitted by homebuyers in support of and opposition to the Allahabad High Court’s ruling of April 11, 2014, which ordered the demolition of the two buildings within four months and the reimbursement of apartment purchasers’ money.

According to the Supreme Court, August 28 may be affirmed as the date of destruction, with a “bandwidth of seven days” between August 29 and September 4 to account for any little delays brought on by technical issues or weather circumstances.