The Mumbai Police on Monday said they arrested Neerajkumar Desai, the owner of the firm that conducted a structural audit of the foot overbridge that collapsed on March 14, PTI reported Six people were killed and many injured in the collapse.
This was the first arrest made in the case. “We are conducting an independent investigation and we assure citizens that a chargesheet will be filed soon,” the police said.
The police said they have taken statements from officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and are investigating the matter.
“There is prima facie reason to believe that the structural audit has been conducted in an irresponsible and negligent manner,” ANI had quoted the report as saying. “In spite of commissioning the report on the bridge and spending public money on it, the true condition of the bridge was not highlighted. The structural report should be made public.”
On March 15, the Mumbai Police filed a First Information Report against the civic body and ruled out holding the Railways responsible.
The foot overbridge connected the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus with the Azad Maidan police station. It was also called “Kasab bridge” as Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists who struck Mumbai in November 2008, had used it during the attacks. The bridge, which was three decades old, was also close to the BMC office.
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