Lucknow: Building where fire killed 14 students had been served demolition notice for illegal construction; 4 nabbed
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On Monday, June 22, a massive fire broke out at a college building in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 14 people, most of them students. The blaze broke out in a three-storey commercial building that housed a library and a gaming animation studio for college students on one floor and a veterinary clinic on another.
SIT formed
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The SIT comprises Amrit Abhijat, Additional Chief Secretary of the Tourism, Religious Affairs and Culture Department, and Praveen Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Lucknow Zone. Reports mention that around four officials were suspended with immediate effect in connection with the tragedy. Those suspended include Gaurav Kumar, Executive Engineer (Collection), Jankipuram; Kamalendra Kumar Singh, Food Safety and Standards Officer (FSSO), Indira Nagar; Anil Kumar, Assistant Engineer (AE); and Pramod Pandey, Junior Engineer (JE).
Property owners being investigated
In 2005, the property was jointly registered in the names of Vijay Kumar and his wife Usha via a sale deed, after which the couple transferred ownership to Virendra Pratap Shukla and Surendra Pratap Shukla on January 19, 2013. The Lucknow Development Authority formalised the mutation in favour of Virendra and Surendra on August 7, 2014.
The structure, spanning roughly 1,992 square feet, was granted approval for a residential building plan on August 20, 2014, under the self-certification building plan scheme. Unauthorised construction was subsequently discovered on the premises, prompting the Lucknow Development Authority to register a case against Virendra Pratap Shukla.
Following an inquiry, a demolition order targeting the illegal construction was issued on May 10, 2016. Yet barely two months later, on July 5, 2016, the order was inexplicably revoked, a reversal that has now drawn serious scrutiny over the conditions under which it was overturned, the statement noted.
FIR filed against 6; 4 arrested so far
Notably, an FIR in the case has been filed, and 4 of them have been arrested. The FIR has been lodged at Aliganj police station against 6 persons under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Uttar Pradesh Fire Service Act. However, four of them, identified as Ramakrishna Upadhyay, Virendra Prasad Shukla, Suresh Kumar Sahu, and Tushank Krishna Jaiswal, have been arrested.
As per the initial reports, the fire started on the middle floor of the three-storey building allegedly due to a short circuit in the Air Conditioner, following which the students locked themselves in the bathroom and died of suffocation.
“Fourteen children from happy families were killed in the incident,” the state’s deputy chief minister, Brajesh Pathak, told reporters, adding that four others who jumped from the building to save their lives got severely injured. As per the reports, there were around 20 students in the gaming studio when the fire broke out. All the students left the class and ran towards the terrace after the short circuit happened, and later stuffed themselves into the bathroom, seeing the terrace locked. In the meantime, around 4 students jumped from the building to save their lives, who are now seriously injured and admitted to the hospital.
SIT formed
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath took cognizance of the event and expressed grief over the incident. The state has also announced compensation to the immediate family members of the deceased and those injured. Apart from this, the CM also constituted a two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the deadly fire incident in Lucknow.
CM Yogi at the site with investigating officials (Image- India Today)
The SIT comprises Amrit Abhijat, Additional Chief Secretary of the Tourism, Religious Affairs and Culture Department, and Praveen Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Lucknow Zone. Reports mention that around four officials were suspended with immediate effect in connection with the tragedy. Those suspended include Gaurav Kumar, Executive Engineer (Collection), Jankipuram; Kamalendra Kumar Singh, Food Safety and Standards Officer (FSSO), Indira Nagar; Anil Kumar, Assistant Engineer (AE); and Pramod Pandey, Junior Engineer (JE).
Property owners being investigated
The incident also attracted an investigation into the legal aspects of the building in which the incident occurred. It has emerged that the property changed hands multiple times before the current owner. The UP government also revealed that the three-storey commercial building had been served a demolition order in 2016 for illegal construction, only for that order to be withdrawn within less than two months. The building is situated in Sector D of the affluent Aliganj Scheme area and was originally allotted on July 11, 1980, to Vijay Kumar, son of Rameshwar Sahay, under a hire-purchase scheme through a lottery. Following the execution of the agreement on November 4, 1980, the allottee was handed possession of the property.
In 2005, the property was jointly registered in the names of Vijay Kumar and his wife Usha via a sale deed, after which the couple transferred ownership to Virendra Pratap Shukla and Surendra Pratap Shukla on January 19, 2013. The Lucknow Development Authority formalised the mutation in favour of Virendra and Surendra on August 7, 2014.
The structure, spanning roughly 1,992 square feet, was granted approval for a residential building plan on August 20, 2014, under the self-certification building plan scheme. Unauthorised construction was subsequently discovered on the premises, prompting the Lucknow Development Authority to register a case against Virendra Pratap Shukla.
Following an inquiry, a demolition order targeting the illegal construction was issued on May 10, 2016. Yet barely two months later, on July 5, 2016, the order was inexplicably revoked, a reversal that has now drawn serious scrutiny over the conditions under which it was overturned, the statement noted.
FIR filed against 6; 4 arrested so far
Notably, an FIR in the case has been filed, and 4 of them have been arrested. The FIR has been lodged at Aliganj police station against 6 persons under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Uttar Pradesh Fire Service Act. However, four of them, identified as Ramakrishna Upadhyay, Virendra Prasad Shukla, Suresh Kumar Sahu, and Tushank Krishna Jaiswal, have been arrested.