Bangalore: Two killed in car crash, flyover engineers arrested

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore,  September 13, 2014: In an unprecedented case the Bangalore traffic police have arrested two engineers from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the death of two persons in a traffic accident on a flyover on the Outer Ring Road in the city last week.

The BDA engineers who were involved in the construction of the flyover have been charged with negligence in not installing proper signages on the flyover resulting in a cab driver crashing his car on September 3 and causing his own death and that of a software engineer who was heading for the Bangalore airport with his wife. The airport traffic police who investigated the case arrested the two BDA engineers on Friday for not installing proper signages for the Outer Ring Road flyover at Devarabeesanahalli.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police for traffic (East division) MN Babu Rajendra Prasad said that the arrested persons were Sripadaraj, an Assistant Executive Engineer and Pradeep, an Assistant Engineer. A third person from the BDA was also arrested and was identified as the project in-charge Vinobha.

The traffic DCP said that the work on the flyover at Devarabeesanahalli had been in progress for a few years but the project remained incomplete. The BDA meanwhile had not put up any sign boards to caution people about hazards while using the road. “We wrote a letter to the BDA in May after sensing danger at this accident site. We requested the BDA to install signages and warned of criminal action if any thing were to go wrong. They ignored our letter and warnings.

They did not install the signages leading to the tragic accident on September 3,” Prasad said. A software engineer Ravindran, 32, and cab driver Shiva Kumar were killed in an accident on the flyover in the early hours of September 3 after the driver failed to spot the construction activity. The software engineer’s wife Ramya, 27, sustained severe injuries in the accident.

The couple were on their way to the Kempegowda International Airport with Ramya scheduled to catch a flight for Mumbai to visit relatives. The police had initially registered a case of negligence against the cab driver but further investigations revealed that the negligence of BDA officials was also responsible for the fatal accident leading to their arrest.

 Courtesy: Indiaexpress