Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A lawyer here has demanded a first information report (FIR) against civic officials who have been named as accused in the findings of a magisterial probe into the incident of collapse at a stepwell of a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, in which 36 people lost their lives.
An accident occurred in March last year when the roof of a stepwell collapsed in Indore's Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple, killing 36 people.
As per court orders, the state government on January 6 presented the report of the magisterial inquiry into the accident.
Talking to reporters on Tuesday, advocate Manish Yadav, who is representing two PILs filed on the incident in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, said, "In the report, the then and present municipal officer of the areas and the then and present officer of the water works department have been held responsible for the accident in the temple, but no FIR has been registered against them yet." The lawyer said he would approach the court if an FIR is not registered against these officers.
"An FIR should soon be registered against the municipal corporation officials responsible for the horrific accident, and they should be arrested. They should also be dismissed from government service," Yadav said.
According to the police, the floor on a stepwell in the city's Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple caved in during a havan-puja on Ram Navami on March 30, 2023.
Thirty-six people, including 21 women and two children, were killed in the incident.
The temple was allegedly built illegally, a police official said.
An FIR was registered against the temple trust's president, Sevaram Galani, and its secretary Murali Kumar Sabnani, under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, he said.
The administration transported idols from the temple to other temples four days after the accident.
Citing safety concerns, the temple was demolished, and the stepwell was closed by filling it with debris.
