Chief engineer of Meerut Cantt in judicial custody

Lucknow, July 11 (IANS) The Chief Executive Engineer (CEE) of the Meerut Cantonment Board has been sent to a 14-day judicial custody over an incident where four people were killed during the demolition of a building, police said on Monday.

The CEE Anuj Chowdhary however, pleaded through his lawyer that he was not present at the site when the incident took place last week.

The counsel of the victims however, observed that he could not absolve himself from the ill-planned demolition after which a court sent him to judicial custody.

He was arrested by the Meerut police late Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar has also sought a detailed report on the incident, an official informed IANS.

The Cantt Board has, meanwhile, announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the victims’ families. The district administration has also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each.

The families have alleged without any prior information, one of the pillars of the building was taken down by Cantt’s demolition squad, bringing the whole building crumbling down where the victims were crushed to death.