Principal held after KM Public School wall collapse kills two children in Noida

The principal of an unauthorised private school was arrested after two students died following a wall collapse. The principal was arrested from the gate of Arogya Dham Maharishi Ashram in Sector 107 on Tuesday.

Sanjiv Jha, Principal, New KM Public School in sector 101 was absconding following the incident.

"After the wall collapse, all the accused were on the run; we got information about Jha and he was nabbed on Tuesday morning. Police teams are working on nabbing the other absconding accused," said a senior police officer.

This is the first arrest in the case in which six people have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, endangering life of others under the Indian Penal Code and for cruelty against children under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Two students were killed while four others were injured after the boundary wall of the school collapsed on them on Monday morning. The students were sitting for an exam in the open at the time of the incident. Construction work at an adjacent plot is believed to have triggered the accident.

The FIR in the case named school's principal Sanjeev Jha, its manager Raghvendra Solanki, owner Amit Bhati, his relative Deshraj Bhati and Sumit Bhati (Deshraj's son) and an unidentified JCB (heavy machine) operator.

According to the FIR, the school building was "too old and deteriorated" while the construction work in the plot adjoining it was being done "without any official approval from the authorities concerned"

The deceased students have been identified as Vivek Kumar (7) and Bhupender Singh (10), while the injured have been identified as Naitik (8), Amit (7), Ashish Kumar (8), and Akaash (9). The death of the two kids in Salarpur village prompted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to order a magisterial-level inquiry.

"We received a police control room call at around 9:30 am from a local informing about a wall collapse inside KM public school and that student are trapped under the debris. We reached the spot within 10 minutes and started the rescue operation. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) unit was also called in for help," said Shwetabh Pandey, Circle officer 3, Noida.

The Gautam Budh Nagar administration has ordered a probe into the incident and have announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the family members of the deceased.

WHAT FOLLOWED NEXT

• The administration ordered a probe and announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the family members of the deceased.
   
• The death of the two kids prompted Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath to order a magisterial-level inquiry.