PRAYAGRAJ: Police on Tuesday arrested three people, including former Samajwadi Party MLA Ansar Ahmad, in connection with the collapse of a cold storage facility in Phaphamau that left four workers dead and 14 injured.
The other two arrested are Ahmad’s son, Manzoor Elahi, and his nephew, Alauddin. According to police, all three were produced before a court and remanded to 14 days of judicial custody.
The Phaphamau police had earlier registered an FIR against seven named individuals and five unidentified persons under multiple sections, including Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the Cold Storage Licensing (CL) Act. Three teams were formed to track down the accused.
DCP (Ganga Nagar) Kuldeep Singh said efforts are ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects. “Raids are being conducted, and the investigation is progressing,” he said, adding that rescue operations at the site were still underway.
The incident occurred on Monday when the cold storage structure collapsed in the Phaphamau area, trapping workers under debris. Emergency teams rushed to the scene, pulling out victims and shifting the injured to nearby hospitals.
In a related development, Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh ordered the suspension of Prayagraj’s district horticulture officer Saurabh Srivastava and directed a departmental inquiry into the incident.
A committee led by a joint director from the department inspected the site and recorded statements from the injured as part of the probe.
Authorities are examining whether negligence, safety violations or structural lapses contributed to the collapse.
