Alaya Apartment case: Ex-SP minister, son, 3 others accused of culpable homicide

Lucknow: The Hazratganj police have filed a charge sheet in the Alaya Apartment collapse case of January 2023, accusing former Uttar Pradesh minister and ex-Samajwadi Party MLA Shahid Manzoor of culpable homicide. Besides Manzoor, charges have been filed against his son and three others.
According to the police, evidence from CCTV footage and photographs obtained hours before the collapse of Alaya Apartment on Wazir Hasan Road in Lucknow confirmed that Shahid Manzoor was involved in excavation work at the building which led to the incident, claiming three lives. The divisional commissioner’s committee, chaired by Roshan Jacob, also corroborated these findings in its report, said the police.
The accused include Shahid Manzoor, his son Nawazish Shahid, nephew Mohammad Tariq, Fahad Yazdani and Saim Yazdani. The police have invoked the Gangsters Act against all five individuals and are preparing to attach their properties.
Also Read: Alaya Apartment Collapse: Four months after tragedy, survivors fighting to piece together their lives
Manzoor, a resident of the Delhi Gate area in Meerut district, allegedly exerted pressure on individuals to sell a plot of land where Alaya Apartment was constructed. Nawazish and Tariq allegedly bought the plot and entered into a builder agreement with Fahad Yazdani and Saim Yazdani to construct the apartment building.
The apartment building was constructed without approved maps. Despite notices from the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) against the construction, the former minister and his son allegedly continued with the illegal construction, selling flats to customers using fraudulent maps.
The five-storey Alaya Apartment had collapsed on January 24, 2023. Uzma Haider (35) and Begum Haider (75), the wife and mother respectively of Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abbas Haider and an Unnao-based teacher Shabana Khatun (42) lost their lives in the incident.
The collapse of the Alaya Apartment prompted an extensive rescue operation by the fire department, police, SDRF and NDRF, which continued for three days. Investigation revealed gross violations in the construction process, indicating a blatant disregard for safety regulations.
DCP, central zone, Raveena Tyagi said probe is still continuing in the case.