FOB auditor files bail petition

Mumbai: Neeraj Desai, the auditor, who had done structural audit of the Himalaya Bridge outside CSMT, which collapsed and six people died, has filed bail plea in the Sessions court. A magistrate court had recently rejected his bail application.

Desai, through his lawyer Rizwan Merchant has contended that a structural audit is valid only for six months and the foot overbridge (FOB) outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) collapsed two years after his firm carried out an audit. He has contended that the mishap was a result of interplay of several factors.

The Azad Maidan police arrested Desai on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Desai is a structural engineer and his firm had carried out audit of the bridge and declared it safe despite finding some corrosion. When the application came up for hearing before Sessions judge MS Azmi, public prosecutor Mangesh Arote sought time to file reply and then the judge deferred hearing on the plea till April 11.  

According to Desai’s application “By no stretch of imagination the mishap can be attributed to him or his company.”   

It is also mentioned in the application that the FOB collapsed on March 14, 2019, almost after two years and three months from the date of structural audit undertaken by his company.

According to applicant the audit report was valid for only six months, and it can by scrutinised by a professional organisation such as the Indian Society of Structural Engineering (ISSE).

Besides Desai, two officials in the bridges department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been arrested in the case.

Six persons were killed and several others were injured in FOB collapsed in the rush hours of the evening on March 14.