Noida wall collapse: School owner, JCB operator held

The Noida Police arrested two more persons Thursday in connection with a school wall collapse here four days ago in which two students were killed and three others were injured, officials said.

Amit Bhati, owner of the New KM Public School, and Mohammed Asgar, a JCB operator, have been arrested. The two were among the six named in an FIR over the incident that took place on Monday in Salarpur village, police said.

"Two of the accused were arrested today by officials from Sector 49 police station. One of them is the owner of the school, while the other is the JCB operator. The principal (Sanjeev Jha) of the school has already been arrested and police would soon nab the other three accused," Superintendent of Police, Noida City, Sudha Singh said.

According to officials, the "poor and deteriorated" wall of the school had come crashing down on the students due to the impact of construction work, involving heavy machinery, in an adjoining plot.

The families of the deceased children, aged 10 and 7 years, had blockaded a road in protest and demanded compensation.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered a magisterial-level probe into the matter.

The other accused include the school's manager Raghvendra Solanki, Amit Bhati's relative Deshraj Bhati and Sumit Bhati (Deshraj's son), police said.

The adjoining plot, where the construction work was underway allegedly without approval from local authorities, was owned by Deshraj, they said.

The accused have been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), and for cruelty against children under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, SHO, Sector 49 police station, Girija Shankar Tripathi said.