Hyderabad, May 7 -- The Andhra Pradesh government ordered suspension of seven officials and initiated criminal action against a civil contractor, allegedly responsible for the death of seven devotees in a wall collapse on the queue at Sri Varaha Narasimha Swamy temple at Simhachalam in Visakhapatnam on April 30, officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The action was taken based on an interim report submitted by a three-member committee, headed by S Suresh Kumar, principal secretary, municipal administration and urban development department and comprising inspector general of police Ake Ravi Krishna and engineer-in-chief (irrigation) M Venkateswar Rao as members.

The officials who faced the suspension include temple executive...