Logo

Logo

Auditor who conducted audit of collapsed Mumbai bridge sent to police custody till March 25

The bridge linking the bustling CSMT train station collapsed on Thursday evening, leading to the death of six and leaving 31 injured.

Auditor who conducted audit of collapsed Mumbai bridge sent to police custody till March 25

(Photo: Twitter | @MakwanaZameer)

Neerajkumar Desai, a structural auditor who was arrested on Monday in connection with the last week’s foot over bridge collapse that left six people dead, has been sent to police custody till 25th March by the Mumbai’s Esplanade Court.

Neerajkumar Desai’s firm had reportedly carried out the structural audit of the bridge and declared it safe for use despite some corrosion in the structure, police said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that there should be no blame game. “If there is a fault in structural audit then it is serious. We will take corrective measures,” he added.

Advertisement

The bridge linking the bustling CSMT train station collapsed on Thursday evening, leading to the death of six and leaving 31 injured.

Police initially booked officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which was responsible for its maintenance, and the Central Railway (CR) under section

304-A (Causing death by negligence) of the IPC, but rescinded the move later.

That section was removed and section 304-part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC was imposed against Desai, police said.

Hours a portion of an overhead pedestrian bridge outside the CSMT railway station came crashing down, CM Fadnavis clarified that the authorities had already conducted a structural audit of the structure and found nothing wrong with it.

This was the third footbridge collapse in the city in the last 18 months — occurred around 7.35 p.m. as the bridge was reportedly overloaded with commuters hurrying to their homes, the BMC Disaster Control said.

Advertisement