An explosion at Bundelkhand Gaurav Mahotsav in Uttar Pradesh tragically killed four children and left several others injured, police said on Thursday. The incident took place in the Chitrakoot district of UP.
Officials said that the blast occurred during a fireworks display at the festival. ""Four of our children died in this. DIG from Chitrakoot, District Officer Chitrakoot and SP, Additional SP, among other officials are on the spot, our forensic team, a team of Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) are also arriving," said Bhanu Bhaskar, Additional Director General (ADG), Prayagraj Zone, Uttar Pradesh.
An FIR was filed in connection with the case against three people, and more people are likely to be named as investigations proceed, the Uttar Pradesh senior police officer said.
"FIR has been filed now against about three people and more people will included in it. The investigation is going on," Additional Director General of Police Bhaskar said.
"We have given the entire investigation to a new investigator, Harsh Pandey, CO, so that we can take it forward with the same seriousness as we were doing, also by coordinating with the teams that are coming in from New Delhi, from Lucknow as well as from Prayagraj and with the teams that are coming from Agra, we will conclude very soon," the Uttar Pradesh police officer said.
"It would not be appropriate for me to make any comment regarding the investigation because all the facts are being examined. The postmortem of the children is not complete. More people are being interrogated and with the clues they have given so far, we are investigating," the senior police official further added.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed a senior inquiry committee, headed by an additional director general (ADG) rank officer, to probe the incident. He has also declared financial aid of Rs 5 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
ADG Bhaskar further mentioned that officials are currently in the process of meeting the family members of the deceased, whose identities have not yet been disclosed. He also added that the Uttar Pradesh government has announced compensation to the relatives of the deceased.
"Now we are in talks with everyone, our first task was to meet the family members, so till now we met two, we have met a family in Allahabad and also in Prayagraj and after this, we will meet the rest and take necessary action," he said.
"There is some talk of compensation from the government side. A decision has been taken and in it, Rs 5 lakh is to be given to each family, as well as for those who have been injured, apart from this the rest of the proceedings are going on, so we will look at all the elements and conclude this very soon," added the top cop.
