Prayagraj Police has booked seven persons in connection with the fire that broke out near the Kumbh area on Thursday, gutting 15 tents. No one was injured in the incident.
The police registered an FIR after an initial inquiry into the incident found that the affected tents were a part of nearly 100 tents that were operating without taking necessary permission from the Mela authorities.
The inquiry found that the tent operators had taken land from local farmers, claiming it would be used for parking vehicles and conducting yajnas, sources in the district administration said.
Following the preliminary probe, all the illegal tents are being removed and raids are on to trace the accused, Station House Officer (Jhusi) Upendra Singh said.
The accused named in the FIR are identified as Mahaveer Singh, Pranav Pal, Swami Avimuktanand Giri, Mukendra Singh Gurjar, Alok Srivastava, Satyam and Munna. “They have been booked under BNS sections 125 (b) (endangering life or personal safety of others), 287 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 318 (4) (cheating) and 319 (2) (cheating by personation),” the SHO added.
Police said that most of the tents were booked by pilgrims.
“The accused had been running the tent for the past 15 days, and around 100 tents were illegally constructed on the land spread over five acres,” Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Prayagraj) Digvijay Singh said.
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During the inquiry, the district administration team asked camp operator Mahaveer Singh, who was present at the time, to provide no-objection certificates (NOCs) from the relevant departments. He, however, failed to produce any documents and instead revealed the names of other camp operators. Later, he also went missing, the office said.
The inquiry team recorded statements from the local residents, who stated that they had rented out their land in exchange for money, believing it would be used as a parking area.
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