Lucknow: A fresh FIR has been registered in connection with the Jun 22 Aliganj fire tragedy that claimed 15 lives, after the UP electrical safety directorate alleged that the owner of the commercial building had obtained a forged electrical safety no objection certificate (NOC) to secure an electricity connection.The FIR was lodged at Aliganj police station against building owner Virendra Prasad Shukla by Alok Shukla, assistant director of the electrical safety directorate, following an internal departmental inquiry conducted after the deadly blaze.According to the complaint, officials verified the NOC submitted by the building owner during the investigation into the fire at the commercial building in sector-D, Aliganj, and found that the document did not match the department’s official records.The inquiry revealed that the letter number and dispatch number mentioned on the NOC corresponded to an entirely different subject in the department’s records. Investigators also found discrepancies in the signature of the then assistant director, the font, handwriting and the design of the document, indicating that the certificate had allegedly been fabricated.The directorate has alleged that the forged NOC was created through falsification and subsequently used to obtain an electricity connection for the building in violation of prescribed regulations.Officials said the department has handed over copies of the genuine NOC issued in 2016, extracts from the dispatch register, electricity bills and other relevant records to the police as evidence.Additional DCP, North Zone, Twinkle Jain said that the FIR has been registered under the charges of cheating, forgery of valuable security and others.The latest FIR adds another dimension to the investigation into the Aliganj fire tragedy, in which 15 people lost their lives after a massive blaze engulfed an illegally operated commercial building on Jun 22. Earlier, an FIR was registered under the charges of attempt to commit culpable homicide, homicide not amounting to murder and others in which also Virendra Prasad Shukla was named and arrested along with three others.
