BMC assistant engineer arrested for foot overbridge collapse

An assistant engineer of Mumbai's civic body was arrested Monday in connection with last month's foot overbridge (FOB) collapse at CSMT station here that had left six persons dead, police said.

This is the second arrest in the case.

The accused, S F Kakulte, working with the bridges department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), was taken into custody this evening after interrogation by the Azad Maidan police, he said.

"We have arrested an assistant engineer and further investigation is being done by our officers," said DCP Manjunath Singe, a spokesperson of the Mumbai Police.

Kakulte was booked under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence), another official said.

The police had earlier arrestedstructural auditor Neerajkumar Desai in the case, being probed by the Azad Maidan police.

Desai, who worked with a private firm, had allegedly gave clearance for continued use of the ill-fated bridge after a structural audit, police had said.

Desai had been booked under Section 304-II of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

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 correctly.

It suggested major lapses when the structural audit of the FOB was carried out on August 13, 2018.

Six persons were killed and 31 others injured when the 40-year-old FOB collapsed during evening rush hours on March 14.

The bridge connected the area near the Times of India building with the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) station.