Magisterial probe ordered, FIR lodged against four

LUCKNOW : A day after three people died following the collapse of an under-construction school building in Shahjahanpur, the district administration ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and lodged an FIR against the manager, contractor, architect and engineer of the building.

The FIR was lodged at Roza police station on the complaint of a government engineer.

Superintendent of police, Shahajahanpur, S Channappa said, “The manager of the school Brijendra Singh Sahani, architect Jagdeep Singh Lamba, contractor Rajiv and engineer Neeraj Gautam have been charged with attempt to murder.”

“We have formed two police teams to investigate the matter and arrest the accused,” he added.

The roof of the under construction building had collapsed on Sunday burying at least 18 people in the rubble.

The district administration managed to recover 15 of them alive following a rescue operation that lasted more than eight hours.

Taking a strong view of negligence in construction, the district administration ordered a parallel investigation by a magistrate.

District magistrate Amrit Tripathi said magisterial probe would focus on the administrative aspects of the construction work. “The magistrate will check if the mandatory permissions were sought before construction. The magistrate will also look into the role of administrative officials,” he added.