BHUBANESWAR: Even as two more engineers were arrested by Twin City Commissionerate Police on Tuesday over the Bomikhal flyover collapse, the probe team headed by two Chief Engineers is seeking out the company which was employed by Panda Infraproject Ltd for installation of the centering support systems.
The centering work is carried out by professional companies and there are four to five such firms operating in the City.Since the entire centering structure crumbled, sources said, it is very difficult for the probe team to find out the defects from the debris which have been removed from the spot. The team can only ascertain firmness of the ground but speculate about the lacunae in the centering structure. “To take the investigation forward, the firm which was sublet the work will be identified,” the sources informed.
Meanwhile, Assistant Engineer of Works Department Kishore Rout and site engineer Vipul Chakraborty were held by a team of Bhubaneswar Police for their alleged negligence in supervision which led to the collapse. One person died and 12 others were injured in the Sunday mishap.
With this, the total arrests in the flyover mishap has gone up to four. On Monday, police arrested assistant executive engineer Banshidhar Praharaj and Managing Director of Panda Infraproject Pratap Kishore Panda.While Praharaj was sent to judicial custody on Monday, Panda, Rout and Chakraborty were remanded to jail for 14 days by Bhubaneswar SDJM Court on Tuesday.
Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said, the two were interrogated to ascertain the reasons behind the mishap before being produced before the local court. “We are also recording statements of the injured persons as well as those of the arrested.” he said. The police are also on the lookout for two other directors of Panda Infraproject, Sujata Panda and Santosh Panda.
Meanwhile, the Works Department has stopped payment to Panda Infraproject for all the five projects it was executing till the inquiry process is complete. The projects are now staring at uncertainty amidst the outrage over the collapse at Bomikhal.