The Esplanade court on Tuesday remanded a retired chief engineer of bridges with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to three-day police custody in connection with the foot overbridge collapse outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
Shitalprasad Kori (60), who was with the civic body from September 2014 to December 2018, was arrested by the Azad Maidan police on Monday. He has been accused of negligence in auditing the Himalaya bridge that collapsed on March 14, killing seven people.
The prosecutor appearing for the Azad Maidan police argued that Mr. Kori had been negligent in his work of auditing the bridge and ensuring that the structure was sound. It was submitted that his work was to supervise the work of assistant engineers and to see that the audit proceeds as per the tender. The police said Mr. Kori had not visited the site of the bridge even once to check on the work of the engineers and the report was approved without any checks.
However, the advocate representing Mr. Kori told the court that he had retired from his post in December 2018, whereas the incident occurred on March 14. Thus, he can not be held liable for the negligence of an event that occurred beyond his tenure. He also said that Mr. Kori has been cooperating with the police in the investigation and has visited the police station thrice.
The defence counsel also pointed to the remarks in the audit report of the bridge, which he said, could not have been made without Mr. Kori actually visiting the bridge.
The advocate also contended that there is no ground for granting him police custody as he never withheld any information or refused to cooperate in the investigation. The advocate pleaded that Mr. Kori be sent to judicial custody as he has not concealed any notes from the audit, because all of them were part of the official records, which can be accessed at the BMC office.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate N.N. Joshi directed that Mr. Kori be sent to police custody till May 10.
