Ghaziabad, January 5: The death toll in the roof collapse incident at cremation ground in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad rose to 24 on Tuesday. According to a tweet by ANI, Police  have arrested four persons including the main accused contractor Ajay Tyagi, in connection with Muradnagar roof collapse incident. The 24 deceased, most of them attending a funeral, were killed and over 15 people were injured when the roof of a shelter at a cremation ground in Muradnagar collapsed on Sunday. On Monday, family members of the victims blocked the Delhi-Meerut highway to press for their demand for higher compensation. Superintendent of Police (Rural) Iraj Raja informed that officials agreed for Rs 10 lakh compensation and a government job for each victim's family.

According to reports, several men had taken shelter under the recently constructed structure as it had rained. The victims were mostly relatives or neighbours of the deceased person named Jai Ram, who was being cremated at that time. Reports inform that construction work for the shelter at the crematorium, estimated to cost around Rs 55 crore, was started two months ago and it was opened for public nearly 15 days ago. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) unit and Police force reached the spot, pulling out the dead and the injured from the debris. The injured ones were rushed to different hospitals.

Here's the tweet:

Hours after the incident, contractor Ajay Tyagi, executive officer of the municipality Niharika Singh, junior engineer Chandra Pal and supervisor Ashis were booked under relevant sections of the IPC, including 304 (causing death by negligence) on the complaint of a deceased''s son at the Muradnagar police station. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the deaths. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh announced Rs 2 lakh as financial assistance to kin of the deceased.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 05, 2021 08:38 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).