Wall collapse near Mahakal temple: Two cops, two civic staffers, temple official suspended

Ujjain: Two policemen, two civic staffers and a temple functionary were placed under suspension in connection with the wall collapse near the renowned Mahakal temple in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, which claimed two lives, officials said on Sunday.

Ajay Yogi (27) and Farheen Rathore (22) were killed and two others were injured after a portion of the boundary wall of a building opposite Mahakal temple collapsed due to heavy rains on Friday evening. The victims were packing up their makeshift shops when the wall collapsed.

"Mahakal police station in-charge Ajay Verma and beat in-charge sub inspector Bharat Singh Nigwal have been suspended with immediate effect. Prima facie, both were found to be careless in monitoring their area," Superintendent of Police Pradeep Sharma said.

Ujjain Municipal Corporation chief Ashish Pathak suspended sub engineer Gopal Boyat and anti-encroachment team in charge Manish Bali on the directive of district collector Neeraj Kumar Singh, another official said.

The suspension order stated the two were assigned the work of removing illegal encroachments in the area around Mahakaleshwar temple but they had failed to carry out their duties.

The fifth person to be suspended was Mahakaleshwar temple's security officer platoon commander (Home Guards) Dilip Bamania.

Further action will follow after a detailed probe report on the incident is received, Collector Singh said.

Following the incident, encroachments and makeshift shops around Mahakal Temple were removed on Saturday.