Families of the victims staged a protest against the authorities.
Four persons were killed on Saturday after they were buried under the debris of an "illegal" multi-storey building in Meerut cantonment area as it was being demolished by civic authorities this morning, officials said. Bungalow No 210, was demolished by the Cantonment Board authorities during an anti-encroachment drive during which a few people, who apparently were still in the building, were buried under the rubble. Four of them died while three were injured. They have been admitted to a hospital, Meerut Division Commissioner, Alok Sinha said.
Acting District Magistrate Dinesh Chand has ordered a magisterial enquiry by city magistrate Keshav Kumar and has given 15 days to submit a report.
According to Meerut Cantonment Board's Assistant Engineer, Piyush Gautam, "A prior notice was sent to its occupants to vacate the building as it had been illegally built. The area was marked for demolition and the timing of 3 AM was decided. We even gave three more hours to the occupants to take out their belonging and began the demolition at 6 AM only," he claimed. According to officials, the building was a disputed property and the High Court had ordered its demolition.
Police have registered a complaint under section 302 (punishment for murder), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC in Sadar Bazar police station against Rajeev Shrivastav (CEO, Cantt Board Meerut), Anuj Singh (Executive Engineer), Piyush Gautam (Assistant Engineer), Yogesh Yadav, Arvind Gupta and Avdesh Yadav. They have arrested Anuj Gupta and Piyush Gautam while teams have been formed to nab remaining accused.
Families of the victims staged a protest against the authorities and blocked Abu Lane and gheraoed Shrivastav's residence.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Ghulam Nabi Azad met the families of the deceased and condemned the incident. He also demanded an enquiry into the case. Congress spokesperson Nagma reached the spot and demanded compensation and jobs for the affected families.
Ex-State BJP president Laxmi Kant Bajpai also condemned the incident and asked for an enquiry and compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the families of the deceased.
The injured were admitted in hospital after the rescue operation while the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.
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 "Building demolition in Meerut")
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