Building collapse: After their complaint against minister, two NHAI officials booked on charges of endangering life

The controversy over a five-storey building collapsing in Bhatta Kuffar area in Shimla saw two officials of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) being booked on Wednesday on complaints by residents for allegedly endangering life and intentional hurt.

This came a day after a case was filed against Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh on charges of wrongful restraint and voluntarily causing hurt after he allegedly assaulted the two NHAI officials while inspecting the building collapse site.

The FIR against the minister was lodged on the complaint filed by NHAI employee Achal Jindal, a manager at a four-lane project in Shimla, who alleged that he and his site engineer, Yogesh, were called to a room by Singh and beaten up.

Also on Tuesday, a case was filed after the building owner and others alleged that negligence by the NHAI and the company engaged in the four-laning road project had led to the collapse of the building and cracks in other houses.

Two more cases were registered on Wednesday against the NHAI officials after eight residents of Bhata Kuffar, including some whose houses have been affected, and a ward member of Chamiyana Panchayat, Nihal Thakur, filed complaints.

A case under sections 126 (2) wrongful restraint, 125 (acts endangering life or personal safety of others), 352 (intentional hurt) and 3 (5) criminal liability of several people was registered against Jindal on the complaint of Anil Kumar, Het Ram, Giri Thakur, K R Mehta, Anil Verma, Sohan Thakur, Rajesh Thakur and Ashok Rajta.

The complainant alleged that Jindal stopped them from meeting Minister Anirudh Singh. It quoted Jindal as saying, ''We are from NHAI, there is no dearth of money and compensation would be given. But if you complain to the minister, work would be stopped, no compensation would be given in future, and false cases would be registered against the residents''.

''When we protested, Jindal manhandled a local resident by twisting his arm and used unparliamentary language,'' they claimed.

In another complaint against Jindal and site engineer Yogesh, ward member Nihal Thakur accused them of inappropriate behaviour and manhandling, following which another case was registered under sections 126 (2), 352 and 3 (5) of BNS.

The building at Mathu Colony on the road to Chamiyana Super Speciality Hospital caved in on Monday, but there were no casualties.

According to Chamiyana gram panchayat's deputy chief Yashpal Verma, cracks had developed in the building last year, but officials of the company constructing the Kaithlighat-Dhalli four-lane road had assured them that the structure was safe.

He alleged that negligence on the part of the construction company led to the collapse of the building and said the panchayat had written to the firm to stop work as it was rendering buildings unsafe.

On Tuesday, on the complaint of building owner Ranjana Verma, the case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 125 (acts endangering life or personal safety of others) and 324(4) (mischief causing loss or damage to property against the NHAI and against the company engaged in the four-laning of a road for alleged negligence.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)