Cantt board engineer sent to judicial custody
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate, Yogesh Kumar, sent the arrested executive engineer of the cantonment board, Anuj Singh, on 14 days’ judicial custody on Sunday evening.
Police arrested Singh on Saturday afternoon, after four people died during the demolition of an unauthorised shopping complex in sadar area, here. The demolition drive was carried out under the supervision of Singh and other technical staff of the board.
Police presented the chief executive engineer (CEE) in the court of the ACJM, amidst protest from hundreds of traders, who were demanding stern action against him. After hearing pleas of both the sides, the court ordered to send Singh to jail on 14 days of judicial custody.
A case was lodged against cantonment board CEO, Rajeev Srivastava, CEE Anuj Singh, asst engineer, Piyush Gautam and others at Sadar police station on the complaint of the elder brother of one of the deceased Deepak Sharma.
Meanwhile, Naveen Gupta, president of Sanyukt Vyapaar Sangh, issued an ultimatum to authorities to arrest the remaining officers and members of demolition staff within three days. “We will launch a massive movement if they fail to arrest the other guilty officers who have been named in the FIR,” said Gupta, while demonstrating outside the court along with other traders.
Deepak Sharma, his son, Homey Sharma, labourer, Govinda and guard, Omveer got trapped under the debris of the shopping complex, while it was being demolished on Saturday morning. Their bodied were later removed by the rescue team and sent for post-mortem examination.
Angry traders and local residents blocked traffic near Begum Bridge on Saturday night, placing the victims’ bodies on the road. They were demanding immediate arrest of the errant officials and compensation for the families of the victims.
Later, cantonment board declared a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased and a job for one family member of each of the victim. “I am satisfied with the announcement made by the cantt board,” said Naveen Gupta, adding, “We will soon talk to the board officials to get the compensation amount released immediately.”
Meanwhile, demonstrators protested outside the residence of CEO Rajeev Srivastav and the cantt board. BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal and congress leader, Gulam Nabi Azad also visited the spot to express sympathy with the families of the victims.
The shopping mall that was demolished on Saturday was built illegally on the land of bungalow 210b, which is the property of the defence estate. Soon after its construction began in 1996, the cantonment board had challenged it in the lower court, which had ordered for the building to be demolition.
Thereafter, a single and a double bench of the Allahabad high court had also upheld the lower court’s order and directed the board to demolish the illegal construction.