Lucknow Aliganj Coaching Centre Fire, June 2026: 15 Dead, Chargesheet Filed, Cause Not Officially Established

What happened

At about 3 p.m. on Monday, 22 June 2026, a fire broke out in a three-storey commercial building on Usha Mehta Marg, in the Purania area of Aliganj, Lucknow. PTI reported that the ground floor held a pet shop and the upper floor an animation centre; the fire department said the fire started in a coaching centre. Several outlets also mention a library or a gaming zone in the building, and outlets describe it differently. We therefore call it a coaching and animation-training building. Thick smoke filled the stairs and floors. Students rushed towards windows and the roof, and several jumped.

Fifteen people died, according to reporting on the police chargesheet, court reporting in September and most later reports. Early reports gave 11, 12, 14 and 15, and two outlets, The News Minute and Telangana Today, reported “at least 18”. We have not found an official statement backing 18, and every later report we opened says 15, so this page uses 15. India TV says most of the dead were aged 20 to 28 and most died of suffocation from smoke; we do not name anyone, and some of those rescued were children. Injury counts also varied: India TV lists nine injured, a live update said five, and ANI reported 21 to 22 people brought to the hospital. We found no final official injury figure.

The rescue

PTI and The Week report 14 fire tenders including a hydraulic platform at first, with local police and nearby stations arriving before the NDRF, SDRF and civil defence. Firefighters climbed on ladders from outside, and another team went in from the adjoining building after breaking through a wall because of the smoke. Afterwards, Chief Fire Officer Ankush Mittal said about 20 tenders and a hydraulic platform, 21 vehicles in all, made 70 to 80 water-refill trips and used about four lakh litres of water, according to Haribhoomi; the department has started recovering that cost from the owner.

The cause: not officially established

No official cause has been made public. A fire department report by Mittal, as described by Dynamite News on 26 June, says the fire began with a short circuit in a freezer in a pet-shop storeroom on the first floor, spread to banners and hoardings, burst an air-conditioner compressor and set nine outdoor AC units near the entrance alight, and then three motorcycles parked at the entrance burst their fuel tanks. Earlier reports, for example Telangana Today on 29 June, spoke of an air-conditioning duct. PTI quoted a local who suspected a spark. We found only one outlet for the freezer account, so it is a reported finding, not a confirmed cause. The police chargesheet, as reported by Tarun Mitra, does not give an ignition source; it says the building drew over 35 kW against a sanctioned 20 kW and that this could be a reason the fire spread so fast.

What the investigation says about the building

These points come from the chargesheet and SIT material as reported, not from a published report. The building had a single route out. Tarun Mitra, citing the chargesheet, says there was no separate emergency exit and that the staircase meant as a fire exit had been replaced by a lift, leaving upper floors with no safe alternative. ETV Bharat says the SIT collected evidence of a lift at the fire-exit location and biometric doors, and Aaj Tak reported on the day that, according to the preliminary probe, the main gate locked automatically; we found no later official finding that confirms this. The Daily Pioneer, citing unnamed preliminary findings, said there was only one staircase. The chargesheet reportedly adds that there was no smoke-extraction arrangement, and the fire department report says there were no smoke sensors, extinguishers or sprinklers.

On approvals, India TV reports that a residential layout plan was approved on 20 August 2014 for 1,992 sq ft, that a demolition order for unauthorised construction was passed on 10 May 2016, and that it was cancelled on 5 July 2016. The Lucknow Development Authority told the Allahabad High Court the building was sanctioned for residential use and that a commercial structure was built later. The fire department report, as reported, says the owner never obtained a fire NOC, and India TV says the gaming zone allegedly had none. On the electrical side, the chargesheet says an electrical safety certificate submitted by the owner did not match department records, and a separate case for forgery has been registered.

Arrests, suspensions and cases

On the day of the fire the Chief Minister held a high-level meeting. Police registered a case against six people, under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 110, 105, 125 and 3(5) and sections 6 and 10 of the Uttar Pradesh Fire Service Act, and made arrests; India TV lists three arrested that day, and later reports say four. Four officials were suspended: an executive engineer of the electricity department, a fire safety station officer, and an assistant engineer and a junior engineer of the development authority; later reports speak of five. Police filed a chargesheet of more than 500 pages on 20 September, 87 days after the fire, against four people including the building owner. A fifth accused, his brother, is reported absconding with a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his arrest. A two-member SIT headed by Additional Chief Secretary Amrit Abhijat, with ADG Praveen Kumar, was given seven days, missed that deadline, and by early July was reported to have finished its report. The report has not been published. One Hindi outlet, Oneindia, reported on the basis of sources that it recommends action against 7 IAS and 9 PCS officers; we could not confirm that anywhere else.

Courts, compensation and the wider crackdown

The Lucknow Development Authority issued a notice on 23 June and a demolition order on 10 July, and the building was demolished on 25 July. On 24 August the Allahabad High Court dismissed the co-owner’s writ petition against the demolition and sent him to a statutory appeal. In a separate public interest litigation the High Court rebuked the state, the authority and the electricity department in early July, asked how a commercial power connection was given to a residential building, objected to unequal compensation, and told the state to file a safety SOP; the case was listed again on 24 August. On 9 September it ordered that a seriously injured student should not be charged for treatment at KGMU. The Supreme Court is also looking into illegal buildings: Amar Ujala reports that on 22 September the SIT report was filed in a sealed cover, that a special team had surveyed 51 illegal buildings in Aliganj, and that the next hearing is on 23 November. Aaj Tak also reported a contempt notice to the development authority on 6 August. The National Human Rights Commission asked the Lucknow District Magistrate and Police Commissioner for a report within two weeks and told the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to ensure compliance with the 2024 coaching-centre guidelines.

The Prime Minister announced Rs 2 lakh from the PMNRF for each family of the dead and Rs 50,000 for each injured person, and the Chief Minister announced Rs 5 lakh for each family and Rs 50,000 for the injured. In October Amar Ujala reported that one injured student had so far received only Rs 50,000 while treatment was costing about Rs 70,000 a month.

The state acted well beyond Lucknow. The Chief Minister directed that basements must not be used for coaching centres or nursing homes, that buildings be used only for their approved purpose, and that all districts audit coaching centres. India TV reports more than 100 centres sealed in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Meerut and Agra; The Federal lists sealings in Mathura, Orai and Gautam Buddha Nagar as well. Haribhoomi reports a government order of 25 June that commercial buildings without a valid fire NOC will get neither a trade licence nor a new electricity connection, that every building must have separate entry and exit points, and that the fire NOC must be displayed on a notice board. Delhi ordered inspection of 923 coaching centres. Khabargaon notes that Lucknow has about 4,000 coaching centres but only 256 are registered.

Why this matters: the pattern

The pattern is one we have covered before. In the Takshashila fire in Surat, students were trapped on upper floors of a coaching building with no workable way out. In the Old Rajinder Nagar basement flood in Delhi, students were trapped in a coaching-centre basement. Upper floors, basements, stairs that are the only way in and out, and unchecked conversion of ordinary buildings into classrooms keep putting students at risk. The Malviya Nagar guest house fire shows the same single-exit problem in another kind of building.

What students and parents should check

• Count the ways out. Before you enrol, walk from the classroom to the street. You should find at least two separate routes, stairs that are open and not blocked by storage, and exit doors that open from inside without a key, a biometric lock or a card. A lift is not a fire exit. Use the stairs, and never a lift, in a fire.
• Ask about the building, not only the teachers. Ask whether the building was approved for coaching or classroom use, whether it holds a fire NOC from the fire department, and whether the centre is registered. These are questions you are entitled to ask. A building that was approved as a house and is now a classroom is a warning sign, as is a coaching class in a basement.
• Look for the basics. Smoke detectors, a fire alarm you can hear in every room, working extinguishers, clear exit signs and a sensible number of students in each room. The Ministry of Education’s January 2024 coaching-centre guidelines, as summarised by Drishti IAS, say centres must meet fire and building safety codes, give at least one square metre per student, and not enrol anyone under 16; states are to monitor compliance. We have not read the full text of that document.
• Watch the wiring. Bunches of extension cords, many air conditioners on one connection, hot sockets, burning smells and tripping breakers are signs the load is too much. Report them to the management in writing. Here the sanctioned load was 20 kW and use was reported above 35 kW.
• Ask for a drill. A coaching centre should be able to show who raises the alarm, where the assembly point is and how a class of 40 empties a floor. Ask to see it. Our coaching-centre fire safety guide and the school fire safety plan list what a proper plan contains.

If a fire starts while you are inside

• Get out at the first sign of smoke. Do not wait for the teacher to finish or for others to move. India TV reports that most of the dead in this fire died from smoke.
• Stay low and cover your nose and mouth with a wet cloth or sleeve if you have one. Use the nearest open stairs, keep to the wall and keep moving.
• If the way out is blocked, do not jump from height unless fire or smoke leaves you no other choice. Go to a room with a window on the street side, close the door, put a cloth along the gap at the bottom, and shout and wave from the window so firefighters can find you. Several people jumped in Aliganj, and some were seriously hurt.
• Call 112 or 101 as soon as you are safe. Say the floor, the building and the landmark. 112 is the national emergency number, 101 the fire service and 108 the ambulance. The service behind these numbers and response times can differ by district, so also save the local fire station number.
• Bystanders: keep the road and the lane clear for fire tenders and ambulances, do not enter the building, and do not film from the front of the building where people may jump.

What is still not known

We do not know the official cause of the fire, whether the SIT or a forensic laboratory has named one, or whether the fire department’s freezer account will stand. The SIT report is not public. We do not know how many people were injured, whether the fifth accused has been found, or what action the government will take on the officials the SIT named. We could not confirm the Oneindia report about IAS and PCS officers, and we found no report on the High Court SOP after its 24 August date. The criminal case, the High Court PIL and the Supreme Court proceedings are all still open. We will update this page when any of them produces a finding.

More on Lucknow: see our Lucknow fire and emergency safety guide for emergency numbers and the local risks to know.