BMC's negligence led to CST bridge collapse, Mumbai Police arrests third engineer
An executive engineer of Mumbai's civic body was arrested in connection with the foot overbridge (FOB) collapse outside the iconic CSMT on March 14. Police said BMC engineers were aware that such incidents might happen but acted negligently.
A day after the arrest of an assistant engineer of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in the CST bridge collapse case, another senior officer from BMC has been arrested by Mumbai Police. Executive engineer Anil Patil from the BMC was arrested by Azad Maidan police on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Six people had died while 35 were left seriously injured when a foot overbridge collapsed near Mumbai's CST station at peak hour on the evening of March 14.
This is the second arrest of a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineer in two days and third since March 14 when the deck of the 40-year-old bridge connecting the area near the Times of India building with the CSMT station, collapsed during evening rush hours.
Executive engineer Anil Patil was posted with the bridges department between 2014 and 2018 -- the same period when the bridge was repaired, followed by its structural audit and submission of the audit report.
The first to be arrested in the case was structural auditor Neeraj Desai who certified that the bridge was in "good condition" in 2018. A detailed investigation into the case led to arrest of assistant engineer SF Kakulte, who was arrested on Monday evening (April 1) and produced in court the next day. Kakulte was remanded to police custody on grounds that the police wanted to recover some important documents pertaining to the bridge's audit and also to verify if Kakulte had made some financial gains during this period.
As India Today TV had reported previously, the police investigation has proved that BMC officers showed negligence in performing their duties and had no records of any inspection or supervision. The probe has found that BMC officials were not even present on site when the bridge was being audited or repaired.
DCP Abhishek Trimukhe said, "Investigations clearly suggest that the BMC officers were negligent and their lethargy led to the collapse of the bridge".
"During our investigation, it came to light that they had knowledge of their job and due to their negligence the incident took place," the DCP said.
India Today TV had also found there were no notes or documents with BMC officials to prove that they had been present anywhere close to the spot when the repair work was going on at the CST foot overbridge -- pointed out by the public prosecutor in court on April 2.
Patil will be produced before the court Wednesday while a court remanded Kakulte in police custody till April 5.
Kakulte was booked under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence).
A preliminary report into the collapse submitted by the BMC had said the structural audit of the foot overbridge at CSMT railway station in south Mumbai was not carried out properly.