Wall collapse in Ujjain: At least two policemen, two civic officials and a temple official have been suspended in connection with the wall collapse near the famous Mahakal temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, which killed two people, officials said today (September 29).

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

“Mahakal police station in-charge Ajay Verma and beat sub-inspector Bharat Singh Nigwal have been suspended with immediate effect. Prima facie, it was found that both of them were careless in monitoring their area,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Pradeep Sharma said.

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

The suspension order stated that the two were assigned the task of clearing illegal encroachments in the area around Mahakaleshwar temple but they failed to perform their duties. The fifth person to be suspended was Mahakaleshwar Temple Security Officer (Home Guard) platoon leader Dilip Bamania.

Collector Singh said further action would be taken after receiving the detailed investigation report on the incident. Following the incident, encroachments and makeshift shops around the Mahakal temple were cleared on Saturday (September 28).

(With Prem input)