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Bengaluru: 8 booked after woman, child killed in metro pillar collapse
Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra on Wednesday said an FIR has been registered against Nagarjuna Construction Company and seven people in connection with the death of a woman and her two-year-old child after an under-construction pillar at a metro site collapsed in Bengaluru a day earlier.
Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra on Wednesday said a first information report (FIR) has been registered against Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC) and seven people in connection with the death of a woman and her two-year-old child after an under-construction pillar at a metro site collapsed in Bengaluru a day earlier.
NCC was awarded the contract for the construction at the metro site. No arrests have been made so far in the case.
Jnanendra said five NCC officials and two officials in Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) have been booked under various sections, including 336 (endangering life or personal safety), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304(a) (causing death by negligence), of Indian Penal Code.
“We’ll take action for sure. It’s utter negligence by the company,” Jnanendra said.
According to an official communication from the home minister’s office, those named in the FIR are “NCC, its junior engineer Prabhakar, director Chaitanya; SPM Mathai; PM Vikas Singh; supervisor Lakshmipathi; BMRCL deputy chief engineer Venkatesh Shetty and executive engineer Mahesh Bendekari.
There was no immediate reaction from NCC at the time of filing this report. BMRCL officials said aid three officials, including the deputy chief engineer and executive engineer, have been suspended so far.
The woman, identified as Tejaswini Kumar (25), her husband Lohit Kumar (30) and her two children, Vihan (2) other a-year-old daughter were on their way to a daycare centre on a motorcycle when a circular pillar collapsed at HBR layout. While Tejaswini and Vihan were killed in the accident, the others escaped unhurt.
The family hails from Gadag and lives in Hennur.
Bengaluru police later registered an FIR on the basis of a complaint by the woman’s husband.
Meanwhile, the BMRCL suspended three officials in connection with the case.
BMRCL managing director Anjum Parvez said the cause of the accident will be clear after the probe. “In connection with the incident, three officials – deputy chief engineer, executive engineer, and section supervisor – have been suspended,” he said.
Parvez also said that a team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will probe the accident and submit a report. He said a notice has already been issued to NCC in the matter.
“Another notice will be issued today. After we receive the report from IISc, we will take the necessary action,” he said. The second notice was issued later in the day.
On Tuesday, BMRCL officials said a bunch of vertical bars were erected in a circular column to build pillar number 218 for Namma Metro’s 38.44km KR Puram-Airport line under Phase 2B. The column weighing several tonnes and 30 feet tall fell along the busy road in HBR layout.
