Ex-civic engineer arrested over bridge collapse

Mumbai: The Azad Maidan police Monday arrested a retired chief engineer of the bridges department in connection with the ill-fated Himalaya foot-over-bridge (FOB) collapse.

The arrested accused, Shitalprasad Kori (58), is one of the former engineers named in the BMC's internal inquiry report submitted to the police.

The report formed the basis of the police investigation, with the officials arresting some of the engineers named in it. The BMC had conducted a departmental inquiry following the collapse of the FOB and named four accused persons in the report, including Kori and R.B. Tare (both retired engineers), and A.R. Patil and S.F. Kakulte, both of whom were suspended by the corporation.

Apart from the chief auditor, Neeraj Desai, of the firm that was awarded the contract to conduct the audit of the Himalaya FOB, the police has till now arrested Kakulte and Patil in connection with the incident. “The audit process went on when Kori was head of the department and it was negligence on his part. He was attached to the department from September 2014 to December 2018,” said an officer of the Azad Maidan police.

The police produced Kori at the Esplanade Court Tuesday and he was remanded to three days police custody for further investigation.

Earlier in March, the officials arrested assistant engineer Kakulte (44) after the Azad Maidan police questioned him. Kakulte is attached to the bridges department since 2008, and was part of the post-audit inspections and other procedures undertaken to ascertain the bridge’s condition.

The second BMC officer to be arrested was Patil (53), executive engineer attached to the bridges department of the municipal corporation from September 2014 to December 2018.