MD of Bharat Fibernet and contractors of Suchitra-Kompally flyover arrested for lapses leading to accident

A series of incidents following a road mishap on the night of March 24 at the Military Dairy Farm road junction located on National Highway 44 has landed the Managing Director of Bharat Fibernet in jail. He was among the four men arrested, including the contractors, who took up the flyover work on the Suchitra-Kompally stretch.

The involvement of these entities and lapses on their part came into focus following the accident in which two people were killed and another injured.

The mishap, reported at 9.30 p.m. of March 24, fatally injured a woman travelling with her husband on a two-wheeler and another biker, Akashraj, while one Durga Prasad escaped with injuries on his legs. “They halted their vehicles on the road after noticing a commotion ahead. While they were stationed, truck driver Urji Sekh ran them over. He fled the spot after leaving behind the truck bearing number AP 23 U 7020,” said DCP of North Zone, Rohini Priyadarshini.

The commotion was due to the illegally stretched internet cable on the road. “It was a serious violation on behalf of Bharat Fibernet. The illegally stretched internet cable across the National Highway posed a threat to commuters. They had tethered the cable between electric poles through trees across the road even despite knowing full well that it would lead to fatal accidents,” she explained.

Meanwhile, the owner of the truck, Arjun Singh, was arrested for allowing the vehicle to ply on the road even after its vehicle registration validity had expired in 2018. “He was also booked for producing one Roopla Nayak as the driver by asking Urji to escape to his hometown in West Bengal,” added the officials.

Arrest of contractors working on Suchitra-Kompally flyover

K. Raghavendra, Senior Project Manager of Lakshmi Infrastructures and Developers India Pvt Ltd, and Vemulapally Ravi Kiran, the Managing Director of the firm were arrested by the Bowenpally police.

“Our probe revealed that the ongoing flyover construction in the area lacked essential safety measures. The contractors and their staff overseeing the construction failed to ensure proper implementation of safety protocols including lighting, cautionary signages or speed limit indicators, blinkers, etc. Even after knowing the lack of safety protocols, they deliberately did not take up the work which resulted in this accident,” explained the DCP.