Three held for crematorium wall collapse that left 5 dead in Gurugram

A 30-feet-long crematorium ground wall collapsed in Arjun Nagar on Saturday night killing five people near Pataudi Chowk, in Gurugram.

Gurugram:

A day after a portion of the peripheral wall at Ram Bagh crematorium at Pataudi Chowk collapsed killing five people, the Gurugram Police said it arrested three people in connection with the case. The arrested men were identified as the crematorium chairperson Paramjit Singh Oberoi, secretary Subhash Kharbanda and committee member Krishan Kumar.

Sandeep Kumar, Gurugram police public relations officer, said further investigation was going on after which action would be taken against the others. Gurugram deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav has also ordered an inquiry into the incident. Yadav said the next of kin of the deceased or injured will be given the maximum amount of compensation as per the rules of the government.

“A three-member committee headed by SDM Gurugram has been formed. They will submit a report within a week. Prima facie, it has surfaced that the wall did not have any column or beam resulting in its collapse,” Yadav said.

The residents of the colony alleged that the wall had been built without any columns or beams in a bid to save money and had tilted about six months back. Residents of Arjun Nagar colony said the collapsed section of the wall — 75 feet in length and about 12 feet high — at the rear of the crematorium was built hardly two years ago.

The brother of one of the injured victims said that the residents made several complaints to the crematorium committee but no action was taken.

“All committee members live nearby. The crematorium contractor had kept a huge pile of dry wood against the wall which may have also caused it to tilt,” said Anil Kumar. Anil’s younger brother, Dilip Kumar, 50, was critically injured in the incident and is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital. He has suffered fractures in his spine and legs. On Saturday evening, Devi Dayal, 65, Manoj Gaba, 55, Krishan Sachdeva, 52, Khushbu, 10, and Tanya, 9, were killed after the rear wall of the crematorium collapsed at 6.20pm.

Om Prakash and Kanta Devi, owners of two houses less than 10 feet away from the crematorium, said several years had passed since they had initially pointed out the risk posed by the mud walls of the crematorium.

“The authorities just got the wall plastered. The walls have several cracks and will collapse on our houses any day during heavy rain or a storm,” they said.

Inspector Avatar Singh, station house officer of the New Colony police station, said prima facie it was evident that the rear peripheral wall was constructed without any columns and collpased due to lack of support. “We have summoned the crematorium committee members for necessary action,” he said.

An FIR under sections 304A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (causing damage) has been registered.

The committee auditor, KK Bomb, however, said that he had not received any complaint and was not aware of the danger posed by the walls of the crematorium.

The bodies have been handed over to the families. Angry residents blocked the Pataudi Chowk on Sunday morning for about two hours to protest against the incident.

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