Noida wall collapse: Owner among two more arrested for Salarpur school incident

Two students had lost their lives while three others got injured on Monday when a boundary wall of New KM Public School collapsed and five children came under it.

Two main accused in the wall collapse incident of a private unauthorised school at Salarpur village in Noida were arrested by police on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the two accused near the power station in Sector 115. The arrested duo has been identified as Amit Bhati, owner of the school, and Mohammad Ahmad, driver of the earthmover that was being used at the construction site.

A NDRF team involved in rescue work at the school site in Salarpur after the boundary wall of the school collapsed. (Sunil Ghosh / HT Photo)

Two students had lost their lives while three others got injured on Monday when a boundary wall of New KM Public School collapsed and five children came under it.

A residential construction work was in progress on the plot attached with the school premises. The sand from the construction site was kept along the boundary wall of the school which allegedly led to the collapse. The wall of the school was around 10 feet high and many rock slabs were also kept on its top, police said.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has sent a recommendation to slap a penalty of ₹20,000 on the owner of the plot whose dumped sand led to the incident. “We have sent our recommendation to the city magistrate as the sand was kept without covering it. Once we get the approval from the city magistrate, a notice will be sent to the owner of the plot,” said Anil Singh, regional officer, UPPCB.

Pollution control board officials also visited the site to identify the total area where the construction work was going on and the uncovered sand. The total area is around 3,000 square feet on which construction material was lying uncovered, the officials said.

On Monday, senior police officials had said that they were expecting education department to file a separate FIR in the matter. However, the education department has merely filed a brief complaint that the school was running illegally and a proper investigation should take place in the whole incident.

Police had arrested school principal Sanjeev Jha on Monday night itself. “We have arrested three accused, including the two main accused who were arrested on Thursday. The remaining three accused will also be arrested soon. The education department has given us an application,” said Shwetabh Pandey, circle officer 3.

Police have registered an FIR against six persons, including the management of the school and the neighbour whose dumped sand allegedly led to the incident. Besides Bhati, Jha and Ahmad, other accused include Deshraj, owner of the adjoining plot, his son Sumit Bhati and Rajendra Solanki, manager of the school.

The FIR has been registered under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 75 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.