Mumbai FOB collapse: Bail plea of auditor, engineers rejected

A sessions court here Saturday rejected the bail plea of a structural auditor and two civic corporation engineers arrested in connection with the collapse of a foot over bridge near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus last month in which seven people were killed.

Neeraj Kumar Desai, a structural engineer whose firm had carried out audit of the bridge and declared it safe despite finding some corrosion, was arrested on the charge of negligence along with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) engineers Anil Patil and S F Kakulte.

Opposing their bail plea, public prosecutor Mangesh Arote submitted that prima facie a case is made out against the accused.

"If released on bail, they might temper with the evidence because they have relations with BMC officials and the investigation into the matter was still underway," the public prosecutor said.

The bail plea of the three officials were rejected by additional sessions judge M S Azmi.

Earlier, their bail application had been turned down by a Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

The 40-year-old bridge, connecting the area near the Times of India building with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station in south Mumbai, had collapsed on March 14, killing seven people.

Desai, who worked with a private firm, had allegedly given clearance for continued use of the bridge after a structural audit.

A preliminary report into the collapse submitted by the BMC had said the structural audit of the foot over bridge was not carried out properly.