Bhubaneswar, Sept. 12: Assistant engineer of works department Kishore Rout, who was named as an accused in Sunday's Bomikhal railway overbridge collapse incident, surrendered before police here today.
The police have also arrested engineer Bipul Chakr-aborty of Panda Infraproject (India) Private Ltd, the private contractor executing the project. With the arrests of Rout and Chakra-borty, the number of accused in police custody has gone up to four.
The police had yesterday arrested deputy executive engineer of works department Banshidhar Praharaj, while Pratap Kishore Panda, managing director of the private firm executing the project, was taken into custody after his surrender.
Later in the evening, Rout, Chakraborty and Panda were sent to Jharapada jail after their bail pleas were rejected.
A 10m-long portion of the T-shaped 1.6km-long under construction overbridge had crashed on Sunday afternoon killing one person.
Rout, who was present on the day of the mishap, however, denied any negligence. He said that sheer misfortune had led to the accident.
"I had reached the site at 8am and informed my superior that all things were perfect. It was only then that we decided to pour concrete mixture. I remained on the structure till 70 per cent of the work was completed. I had left the site for a few minutes to have breakfast when I came to know about the incident," Rout said.
"The shuttering was properly inspected and only after it was found to be satisfactory that we gave the go ahead for casting work. It was just an unfortunate accident. I am not in any way guilty for the incident and the inquiry report will prove this," said Rout before he surrendered at the DCP office here.
Talking about the arrest of Chakraborty, deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said that he was in-charge of the project on behalf of the private contractor.
"We will record the statement of the injured to ascertain the reasons behind the mishap. We are also going through the papers of the private company to find out the possible involvement of others. We are also trying to trace the firm's two other directors," said Bhoi.
Taking lessons from the Bomikhal incident, the works department is contemplating inspection of completed and ongoing projects involving the private contractor.
State government sources said the private contractor was constructing three overbridgesand a flyover at Sambalpur. The firm had also constructed the Malatipatapur overbridge near Puri. #
Angry kin
Surendranath Patnaik, father of the city-based businessman Satyabrata Patnaik who was killed in the overbridge collapse, blamed both the state government and the private contractor for the death of his son.
An angry Surendranath said: "Casting of slab should have been done during night keeping in mind the safety of commuters. I will refund the compensation to the state government. Can they give me back my son?"
