Mumbai CSMT Bridge collapse: Structural auditor, 3 others get bail

Mumbai, Dec 18: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to structural auditor Neeraj Desai and three former officials of the Mumbai civic body, arrested in the case of collapse of a foot-over bridge at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in March this year.

Justice S K Shinde granted bail to Desai and three others - Sandip Kakulte, Anil Patil and Shitala Prasad Kori (former employees of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) - on a surety of Rs 50,000 each. The former civic body officials, who were working in its bridges department, were accused of dereliction of duty and failing to oversee the structural audit work carried out by Desai's firm on the foot-over bridge.

All the accused are in jail since their arrest in March and April this year. They approached the high court after the sessions court rejected their bail pleas. On March 14, 2019, a part of the bridge connecting north-end of CSMT railway station to Badaruddin Tayabji Lane, known as Himalaya food-over bridge, collapsed and crashed onto the road, killing seven persons and injuring 30 others.