Sambal, UP:
Police have arrested two owners of a cold storage facility here where 14 people were killed and several others were injured after the building’s roof collapsed, a senior official said Saturday.
He said the two were arrested in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani district.
According to officials, 24 people were rescued from the rubble of the collapsed building on Indira Road under the confines of the Chandausi Police Station, 14 of whom died.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has formed a committee to investigate the reasons behind Thursday’s collapse.
“The owners of the cold store, Ankur Agarwal and Rohit Agarwal, have been arrested from Haldwani,” Sambhal district magistrate Manish Bansal told PTI on Saturday.
Police on Thursday charged Ankur and Rohit under Section 304A (wrongful death) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the police, the collapsed roof was built only three months ago without the necessary permits from the management, and the amount of potatoes stored in the cold store exceeded the stipulated capacity.
The state government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 200,000 each for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 50,000 for the seriously injured and free medical treatment for all those injured in the incident.
The government has asked the commission of inquiry headed by the departmental commissioner and comprising the DIG of Moradabad to submit its report at the earliest opportunity.
Sambhal is approximately 158 kilometers from Delhi and 350 kilometers from the state capital, Lucknow.
