Three scientists arrested for Balco chimney collapse

The Korba police have arrested three scientists of Ballabhgarh-based National Council for Cement and Building Material (NCCBM) on charges of destroying evidence and giving false information in connection with the chimney collapse incident in Balco.

The three scientists were arrested in Ballabhgarh (Haryana) in the last week of March under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for causing disappearance of evidence of offence and giving false information to screen offender, Korba Superintendent of Police Ratanlal Dangi said.

The scientists are M M Ali, V K Mondal and R K Goswami. Police had filed chargesheet against them in the court while they had been sent to jail after the session court rejected their bail plea, Dangi said.

The NCCBM scientists had been charged of conducting the tests on the chimney collapse that claimed 41 lives on September 23 last year without maintaining the specifications of the Bureau of Indian Standard.

"The officials know that the report is false and can help the Balco officials to come clear on the issue of negligence that resulted in the disaster," Dangi said, adding that they committed another lapse of releasing the test report under the Right to Information (RTI) Act when the state government was probing the incident and the matter was in the court of law.

Police had, however, not taken action against the scientists under the RTI Act.