Man, daughter pulled out alive; 2 booked in Kanpur bldg collapse

A father-daughter duo was rescued alive from the debris of an under-construction building which had collapsed in Kanpur's Jajmau area with police booking a local SP leader and a contractor for negligence. Teams of army and NDRF this morning rescued the 9-year-old girl and her father from the building's debris. The duo received minor injuries in the incident, a senior official said, adding that total seven persons were killed in the incident and 18 injured.

Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) OSD D D Verma last night complained to Chakeri Police that Mehtab Alam was getting the building illegally constructed and for which KDA had served him a notice on November 23, 2016, Senior Superintendent of Police Aakash Kulhari said.

But as Alam did not reply to the notice, the said building was sealed by the KDA on December 26, last year. However, the construction was yesterday again started after illegally breaking the seal, he said quoting the complaint.

On the basis of the complaint, an FIR was last night registered against Alam and his contractor under relevant sections of IPC including 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Kulhari said.

Police on Thursday raided Alam's house but he was not found. Alam and his contractor both are absconding, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condoled the deaths that took place in a building collapse at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and said his thoughts were with the bereaved families.