Kolkata police arrest another IVRCL official in flyover collapse case

Kolkata police on Wednesday arrested the head of IVRCL’s east India operations, the company responsible for the construction of the flyover that collapsed last week in Kolkata, taking the count upto nine.

Ranjit Bhattacharya was booked by police for the Vivekananda Road flyover collapse that killed almost 30 people and injured dozens more.

About a 60-metre-long portion of the Vivekananda flyover had collapsed last Thursday following which the police registered a case against the Hyderabad-based company for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to commit culpable homicide, and sealed the local office of the company.

Bhattacharya, who will be produced in a city court on Wednesday, had fallen ill soon after the collapse and was hospitalised.

On March 31, the day of the tragedy, IVRCL officials claimed that the mishap was an “act of God”.

“We are also shocked that flyover collapsed and want to know why it happened. This is an accident, how can we fix responsibility on someone,” the company said in a statement issued on April 1.

Police sources however claimed the company did not implement a proper quality assurance plan (QAP). Labourers, who were on spot at the time of accident, also said that the engineers did not paid any heed to their advice on safety measures and ignored their concerns.

The accident put the ruling Trinamool Congress in the opposition’s cross hairs as they attempted to pin the blame of the accident on chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her government. The contract for the project was however awarded during the previous Left rule.

With voting for assembly seats underway, the accident could hurt the Trinamool’s chances in returning to power with a comfortable margin.