Roof-Collapse Incident: Police Arrest Owners Of Cold Storage In Uttarakhand

Days after the Sambhal roof-collapse incident where 14 people were killed and several injured, the police have arrested the two owners of cold storage, a senior official said on Saturday.

Official statements

According to the police official, the two were arrested from the Haldwani district in Uttarakhand.

Twenty-four people were pulled out of the rubble of the collapsed structure on Indira Road under Chandausi police station limits and 14 of them died, said the official.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, the Sambhal district magistrate, Manish Bansal said, “The owners of the cold storage, Ankur Agarwal and Rohit Agarwal, have been arrested from Haldwani.”

#UPDATE | UP: Cold storage owners Rohit Agarwal and Ankit Agarwal have been arrested from Haldwani in Uttarakhand in connection with the case of roof collapse of cold storage in Sambhal: Sambhal District Magistrate Manish Bansal

(file pic) pic.twitter.com/KtVqfuOJZm

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 18, 2023

Police registered a case under Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code against Ankur and Rohit on Thursday.

The collapsed roof was built only three months ago without the necessary permission from the administration and the number of potatoes stored at the cold storage was beyond its prescribed capacity, the police official added.

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CM Yogi sets the probe

On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath set up a committee to probe the reasons behind the collapse.

The state government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 50,000 for those critically injured and free treatment for all those who suffered injuries in the incident.

The government has asked the probe committee, led by the divisional commissioner and comprising the DIG of Moradabad, to submit its report at the earliest.

Sambhal is around 158 km from Delhi and 350 km from the state capital Lucknow.