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Muradnagar roof collapse: SIT takes over probe; magisterial inquiry ordered
Ghaziabad: The officials of the special investigation team (SIT), constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the Muradnagar roof collapse incident, took over the ongoing investigation from Ghaziabad police on Friday
Ghaziabad: The officials of the special investigation team (SIT), constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the Muradnagar roof collapse incident, took over the ongoing investigation from Ghaziabad police on Friday. The team comprises a superintendent of police (SP)-rank officer, besides a circle officer and three inspectors, who will camp in Ghaziabad.
The incident, which took place at the Ukhlarsi cremation ground on January 3, claimed 24 lives and left about a dozen people injured. The police, on the basis of complaint filed, registered an FIR and arrested Nagar Palika’s executive officer Niharika Singh, junior engineer CP Singh and supervisor Ashish Kumar, besides contractor Ajay Tyagi and his accomplice Sanjay Garg.
The FIR was registered under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any act rashly or negligently as to endanger human life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 427 (causing damages) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant etc).
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on January 5 had directed that the government’s loss in the incident should be recovered from the suspects. The CM had also directed that action under the National Security Act should be initiated against the suspects.
On January 6, Adityanath had directed that the case will be probed by the SIT from the Economic Offences Wing. Tyagi, following his arrest, allegedly revealed to the police that he bribed officials and also resorted to malpractices.
“We have taken over the investigation and it is in its initial phase. We have also met the victim families and visited the incident site. More details of the incident are being probed. We are also investigating how the structure collapsed,” said SP Dev Ranjan, who is heading the SIT.
According to sources, the SIT met several eye-witnesses and visited the Nagar Palika office, where files of related accounts and works are kept sealed. They added that the probe will also try to find out if more persons were involved in the incident.
“The SIT has taken over the investigation from us and they will be staying in Ghaziabad for the duration of the investigation,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural).
Magisterial inquiry ordered five days after the incident:
Meanwhile, the district administration on Friday, five days after the incident, informed the press through a statement by the district information officer that the district magistrate has initiated a magisterial-inquiry into the incident, to be completed by the additional ADM till January 15.
When contacted, however, DM Ajay Shankar Pandey maintained that the inquiry was ordered on the day of the incident itself.
“I had initiated the magisterial inquiry on January 3 and it is not necessary that every message goes to the media,” Pandey said, while adding that he did not receive the technical inspection report from the committee of engineers constituted after the incident.
Earlier, an initial assessment report taken up on the day of the incident by chief engineers of the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) and the municipal corporation had found that prima facie, “substandard quality” material and “design issues” had allegedly led to the structural failure.
The initial inquiry report had been sent by the divisional commissioner (Meerut) and inspector general (Meerut range) to the government.
Later, a team of senior engineers from the GDA, the civic agency and the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited had inspected the incident site on Tuesday. The team was directed by the DM to submit a technical report.
Sources said Friday that the team was not able to find any design plan for the structure. The work had been assigned to Tyagi in February 2020 from funds received under the Fourteenth Finance Commission.
“The team could not find the design plan for the structure. It also recommended that an expert agency be roped in and a probable design of the structure be prepared to assess different aspects which should have been in place. It is a general practice that public works must include soil testing, foundation design and load bearing capacity of the structure. Otherwise, it is a big risk,” said the source.
Free education for children of victim families
The DM said he has handed over letters of free education to the 31 children from victim families, including injured persons.
“We also have confirmation letters from schools to this effect and handed over letters to families of children. The free education of these children will continue till the last class of the school, whether government or private,” Pandey added.
