Retired chief engineer Shitlaprasad Kori, arrested in the CSMT FOB collapse incident, being produced before the magistrate on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)Police arrested a retired chief engineer from the bridges department, making this the fourth arrest in the foot overbridge (FOB) collapse incident outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on March 14, in which seven persons were killed and 33 left injured.
The accused was identified as Shitlaprasad Kori, who was the senior of the two BMC officials from the same department who were arrested earlier. Kori was produced before the metropolitan magistrate court on Tuesday and sent to the custody of Azad Maidan police till May 10.
The remand application submitted by police before the court states that Kori was with the bridges department from April 23, 2013, to July 31, 2018.
The remand plea states that the two arrested accused, assistant engineer Sandeep Kalkute and his supervisor, executive engineer Anil Patil, reported to Kori. As per the Bridge Maintenance Manual of the BMC, bridges in the city required to be inspected periodically by officials of the bridges department.
Police said there was no record showing that the FOB which collapsed was inspected according to the manual. Police also said none of the officials under Kori’s supervision were present at the time of the inventory and structural audit of the FOB by the firm, whose director has also been arrested.
Public prosecutor Rajendra Survayanshi submitted to the court that police wanted to probe whether Kori had given directions for any specific inspection. He also said police wanted to probe if there were any notes or other documentation regarding the inspection.
So far, the director of the audit firm, Neeraj Desai, Patil and Kalute have been arrested. Their bail applications were rejected by the magistrate and the sessions court last month.
