A social media post accompanying an image showing the 2018 Varanasi bridge collapse is being widely circulated with a claim that the Yogi government did not apprehend the contractor responsible for the bridge collapse to date. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Yogi government did not apprehend the contractor responsible for the 2018 Varanasi bridge collapse till date.
Fact: On 15 May 2018, a portion of the under construction Chaukaghat-Lahartara flyover in Varanasi collapsed. As per the update of the case provided by the Police Commissionerate Varanasi on 28 July 2018, 8 men were arrested in relation the case including seven engineers of the UP State Bridge Corporation and a contractor. This is also evident from the records available on the Varanasi district court website. The case status records show that the accused have filed for a bail, which suggests the accused were arrested. Further, a Supreme court order related to another case involving UPSBC mentioned that Allahabad High court has stayed the case related to the Varanasi bridge on 30 July 2019. All these establish that the accused in the bridge collapse case were arrested and are under trail. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On 15 May 2018, a portion of the under-construction Chaukaghat-Lahartara flyover in Varanasi collapsed, killing 15 persons and injuring 11 persons.
A couple of months later on 28 July 2018, the official Twitter handle of the Police Commissionerate Varanasi shared the details of the ongoing investigation. As per these details, police arrested eight persons including seven engineers of the UP State Bridge Corporation and a contractor in relation to the case.
Those arrested included Chief Project Manager SC Tiwari, former Chief Project Manager Gendalal, Project Manager KR Sudan, AE Rajendra Singh, AE Ram Tapasya Yadav, JE Lalchand Singh, JE Rajesh Pal, and contractor Saheb Hussain. News articles which reported these arrests can be read here.
The Lallantop has published a copy of the FIR (FIR NO 272/2018 of Police Station Sigra) registered in relation to the case. With the help of the details provided in the FIR copy published in the news article, we accessed the status and case history (Case Registration Number 312/2018) records on the Varanasi District Court portal. These records show that the above-mentioned accused have filed for bail in 2018. This implies that there have been arrests in relation to the bridge collapse case.
Further, the Supreme Court in an order related to another case that involves UPSBC mentions the status of the Varanasi bridge collapse case. As per this SC order, the Allahabad High court on 30 July 2019 stayed the trial of the Varanasi bridge case. All these establish that contrary to the claims made in the post, there have indeed been arrests regarding the case, and the accused are undergoing trial in the court.
To sum it up, the accused of the 2018 Varanasi bridge collapse were arrested and are under trial.
