UP: 6 of family killed in oxygen cylinder blast in Bulandshahr house
Bulandshahr (UP) (PTI): Six people died and three were injured following an oxygen cylinder blast which led to a partial house collapse in the Sikandrabad area of Bulandshahr district, officials said on Tuesday.
District Magistrate of Bulandshahr Chandra Prakash Singh said the incident occurred on Monday evening in the house of one Riyazuddin in which around 19 people, including women and children, were living.
Riyazuddin was involved in shuttering work -- the process of giving support and stability to concrete during construction work before it becomes solid.
The initial death toll was five which increased to six in the early hours of Tuesday. City Magistrate Chandra Prakash Priyadarshi said six bodies -- three male and three female -- were brought to the district hospital.
According to officials, those dead were identified as Riyazuddin alias Raju (50), his wife Rukhsana (45), Salman (16), Tamanna (24), Hivja (3) and Aas Mohammed (26).
DM Singh said, "A cylinder blast occurred in the Ashapuri colony of Sikandrabad between 8.30 pm and 9 pm leading to the collapse of the entire house." He said eight residents were taken to the hospital while others were safe.
Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Zone, Dhruva Kant Thakur said information about the casualties was received, after which rescue and relief operations were launched immediately.
Personnel of the NDRF, fire brigade, police, medical and the local administration were involved in the rescue work, he said.
"Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) took immediate cognisance of the incident. We were sent to the spot and directions were issued that good quality treatment should be given to the injured persons," the DM said.
About the rescue operation, he said the iron beams of the roof of the house had to be pried open using gas cutters. At the same time, an excavator was pressed into action to clear the debris.
On Tuesday morning, Senior Superintendent of Police of Bulandshahr Shlok Kumar told PTI that the rescue operation had been completed at the site.
Although the surviving family members have said that no one was trapped under the debris anymore, the rescue teams took all precautions while carrying out their work, he added.
"A total of six persons have died and another three suffered injuries in the blast because of which the front portion of the double-storey house collapsed," Kumar said.
The wife of Riyazuddin was undergoing treatment for an ailment at a hospital and was recently brought back to the home, where the family had brought an oxygen cylinder along with its accessories to help in the post hospitalisation care, the SSP said.
"This oxygen cylinder exploded. The cylinder, its nozzle, etc have been recovered from the debris," the district police chief told PTI.
The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and further legal proceedings in the matter are underway, he added.
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UP man gets life term for electrocuting mentally challenged wife to death in Bareilly
Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A local court here has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering his mentally challenged wife by repeatedly electrocuting her while she was tied to a cot, lawyers said on Thursday.
Additional district government counsel Harendra Singh Rathore said Additional Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh on Wednesday convicted Vinod Kumar (45) for killing his wife, Satyavati, in Chaina village of Bareilly district and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him.
According to the prosecution, he was allegedly frustrated with his wife Satyavati's mental illness and often assaulted her.
Rathore said the prosecution examined nine witnesses to establish the charges against him.
As per court records, on the night of May 1-2, 2022, when Satyavati was asleep, Vinod tied her hands and legs to a cot using ropes and then connected an aluminium cable to an electric board to repeatedly administer electric shocks to her.
"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.
The court observed that the murder was carried out in an inhuman manner.
After committing the crime, the accused threw the rope and cable on the roof and left for work at a brick kiln around 2 am to create a false alibi.
He later tried to mislead the police and the victim's family by claiming that Satyavati, whose mental condition was unstable, had accidentally died by suicide after grabbing a live electric wire.
However, the victim's brother, Sanjeev, a resident of Shahjahanpur district, suspected foul play and lodged an FIR under sections 498A (husband subjecting wife to cruelty) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Nawabganj police station.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the post-mortem report prepared by Dr Faraz Anwar, who stated that multiple electrocution marks found on different parts of the victim's body could not have been self-inflicted.
The police also recovered the rope and electric wire used in the crime on the accused's identification, officials said.
