Two owners of a cold storage in Sambhal district whose roof collapsed and resulted in the death of 14 people on Thursday (March 16) have been arrested, police said on Saturday.
Confirming the arrests, deputy inspector general (DIG), Moradabad range, Shalabh Mathur said a case was registered against owners identified as Rohit Agarwal and Ankur Agarwal under section 304 ((causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. “The police arrested them from Sambhal on Saturday,” the DIG added.
He further said the roof of the cold storage collapsed in Chandausi town of Sambhal district in which 10 people were rescued and hospitalised. Six of them were discharged from hospital while four were still under treatment, he said.
Mathur further said the last rites of all 14 victims were performed after their post-mortem examination. “ Further action will be initiated against the accused after interrogation,” the DIG added.
The rescue operations carried out by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police personnel follwoing the incident lasted over 30 hours and ended on Friday (March 17) night.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who ordered constitution of a panel to probe the incident, on Friday met the injured in the hospital. The probe committee has been directed to submit its report at the earliest.
The state government has also announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased, ₹50,000 for those critically injured and free of cost treatment for all who suffered injuries in the incident.
