Lucknow:

Police on Sunday booked the owner of the three-storey building here that collapsed a day ago, killing eight people, officials said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Amit Verma said a police team is investigating the matter and the accused will be arrested soon.

A senior police official said an FIR has been lodged against Rakesh Singhal, the owner of the Harmilap building in the Transport Nagar area.

The building collapsed on Saturday evening triggering a major rescue operation. Eight people were killed in the incidents while 28 others were injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government formed a three-member committee on Sunday to probe the building collapse incident.

The FIR against Singhpal was lodged at the Sarojini Nagar police station here on the complaint of MK Singh, the police outpost in-charge at Transport Nagar, the officials said.

The accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).

According to the officials, the building had a motor workshop and warehouse on the ground floor, a medical godown on the first floor and a cutlery warehouse on the second floor.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Lucknow:

The death count in the building collapse in Lucknow climbed to eight with rescuers pulling out three more bodies from the debris, officials said on Sunday.

Twenty-eight people were injured when the three-storey building housing godowns and a motor workshop collapsed in the Transport Nagar area here on Saturday evening.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) recovered the bodies of three people, who were identified as Raj Kishore (27), Rudra Yadav (24) and Jagrup Singh (35), during the rescue operation, Relief Commissioner G S Naveen said.

The operation is still underway.

A senior district administration official said they are now focusing on ensuring that no one else is trapped under the rubble.

Police said the building was constructed around four years ago and some construction work was underway at the time of the incident. Most of the victims were working on the ground floor when the incident occurred at 4:45 pm on Saturday.

The injured have been admitted to various hospitals, including Lok Bandhu Hospital, in the district.

According to the officials, the building had a motor workshop and warehouse on the ground floor, a medical godown on the first floor and a cutlery warehouse on the second floor.

Akash Singh, who worked in the medical godown and was among the injured, said a pillar of the building had developed a crack.

“We had come down to the ground floor because it was raining. We noticed that a pillar of the building had developed a crack. Suddenly, the entire building collapsed on us,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)