Engineer, director of construction firm arrested for flyover collapse

Bhubaneswar: An engineer of the state works department and director of a private construction firm were arrested today in connection with the collapse of a flyover here that left a man dead and 11 others injured, police said.

The police have also registered a case against three others in connection with the collapse of the under-construction road over-bridge near Bomikhal here on Sunday.

Deputy Executive Engineer in the Works Department, Bansidhar Praharaj, was the first to be arrested in connection with the incident, Commissioner of Police Y B Khurania said.

Later, one of the directors of Panda Infra Projects, Pratap Panda, was arrested after he surrendered at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), he said.

A case has been registered against Praharaj, Panda, Assistant Engineer Kishore Rout and two other directors of Panda Infra Projects, which was executing the construction work of the bridge, police said.

Efforts are on to trace three others, and if necessary, we may issue a look-out circular, Khurania said. Those named in the case have been booked under different sections of the IPC, including section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), at Laxmisagar police station, he said.

The police also booked them under section 337 of IPC (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt) and 34 (when a criminal act is done by several persons), police said.

A forensic team visited the accident site as part of the investigation, while a police team also visited the office of the construction company, they said. While Prahjaraj and Rout were suspended soon after the mishap on Sunday, Executive Engineer Dukhabandhu Behera was placed under suspension later for prima facie lapses, a senior official said.

"A high-level probe has been launched into the incident by a committee comprising Chief Engineer (Designs) and Chief Engineer (Roads)," Works Department Secretary N K Pradhan told reporters.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week. A team of engineers also visited the mishap site for inspection, he said.

Stern action would be taken against those found guilty, the police commissioner said, adding, the project was under the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division-4.

A 39-year-old businessman was killed and 11 others were injured after a portion of the under-construction flyover caved in.

The flyover collapse issue on Monday rocked the Odisha Assembly, with Opposition Congress and the BJP demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation and the House adjourned twice till the post-lunch session.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat asked the chief minister to give a statement on yesterday's flyover collapse incident, in which one person died and 11 other were injured in the state capital.

When Patnaik was reading out the statement, Congress and BJP legislators rushed to the Well of the House, demanding his resignation, as he also holds the Works Department.

Unable to run the House, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings, first till 11.36 am and later till 3 pm. Patnaik, however, completed the statement, while the Opposition members were demanding his resignation.

He said, a case has been registered under Sections 304 (culpable homicide), 337 (causing hurt), 338 (causing grievous hurt) and 34 (criminal act) of IPC against Panda Infra Project (India) Pvt Ltd, Bansidhar Praharaj, deputy executive engineer and Kishore Kumar Rout, assistant engineer.