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Assistant Engineer in the Works Department, Kishore Rout was arrested after he surrendered at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police here, Commissioner of Police Y B Khurania said. Police also arrested Vipul Chakraborty, Project Manager in Panda Infra Projects, which was executing the construction work of the flyover project, in connection with the mishap that took place near Bomikhal on Sunday, he said.
With this, the total number of people arrested in connection with the mishap rose to four. Bansidhar Praharaj, Deputy Executive Engineer in Works Department, and Pratap Panda, Director of Panda Infra Projects, were arrested yesterday.
Police have already registered a case against two other directors of Panda Infra Projects in connection with the collapse of the under-construction bridge. Efforts are on to trace the two others booked in the case, and if necessary, police may issue a look-out circular, Khurania said. Those named in the case have been booked under different sections of the IPC, including Section 304 (culpable homicide), at Laxmisagar police station, he said.
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A high-level probe is in progress into the incident by a committee comprising Chief Engineer (Designs) and Chief Engineer (Roads), Works Department Secretary N K Pradhan told reporters. The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week. Stern action would be taken against those found guilty, Pradhan said, adding, the project was under the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division-4.
A 39-year-old businessman was killed and 11 others were injured in the accident. Opposition parties have blamed the BJD-led Odisha government for the mishap and targeted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also in charge of the Works Department. The Congress and the BJP, which demanded resignation of the chief minister over the incident, also stalled the state Assembly for several hours yesterday.
Both the Opposition parties have also alleged that a former state minister had favoured the construction firm, which was once blacklisted for security issues and that its case was pending in court.