No Arrests Made in 2018 Varanasi Bridge Collapse Case? Viral Claim Is False

Seven engineers and one contractor associated with the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation were arrested.

Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation personnel were arrested  two months after the incident.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A photo of people standing near a few cars crushed by a collapsed bridge is being shared on social media, with users identifying the incident as the collapse of flyover in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.

The photo is being shared with the date of the incident and text that questions whether Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ever found the person responsible for the mishap. This comes ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

However, we found news reports from 2018 which noted that the bridge had possibly collapsed due to rushed worked owing to the preponement of its completion date, as well as negligence towards safe direction of traffic by the concerned authorities.

As per the reports, eight people – seven engineers and one contractor – working under the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation (UPBC) were arrested in relation to the case.

CLAIM

The photo is being shared with text in Hindi which reads –

"15 मई 2018 वाराणसी पुल हादसा याद है ना, वो ठेकेदार योगी को आज तक नही मिल पाया"

[Translation: Remember the Varanasi bridge collapse from 15 May 2018? Yogiji has still not been able to find the person responsible for it.]

An archived versionof this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

This post by Facebook page 'Unofficial: Arvind Kejriwal" was shared nearly 5,000 times at the time of writing this article. Another photo from the same incident was also shared with the same claim by the West Uttar Pradesh Congress Sevadal's verified Twitter account.

More such claims on social media can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The claim refers to a mishap that took place in Varanasi in May 2018, when a pillar of an under-construction bridge gave away, causing the flyover between Lahartara and Chauka Ghat to collapse.

The bridge fell during the evening rush-hour, crushing many vehicles and claiming 18 lives.

We found the photograph on stock photo website Alamy that gave credits to one Prabhat Kumar Verma.

Using relevant keywords, we looked for detailed reports on the tragic mishap.

According to an Indian Express report dated 29 July 2018, seven engineers and a contractor associated with the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation (UPCB) had been arrested after an investigation that looked into the technical reasons for the collapse.

The report was published two months after the incident.

(Source:The Indian Express/Altered by The Quint)

The report named chief and assistant project managers Harish Chandra Tiwari, Genda Lal, and Kuljas Rai Sudan, as well as assistant and additional engineers Ram Tapasya Singh Yadav, Rajendra Singh, Lal Chandra Singh, and Rajesh Pal Singh.

A contractor named Saheb Hussain was also arrested.

All accused had been charged under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50), the report noted.

Varanasi's then-Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Gyandendra Nath Prasad told Indian Express that all eight accused had been produced before a local court that sent them to jail. "It was found that there were many shortcomings in the construction of the bridge," he added.

The Wire Hindi reported that a complaint was registered against UPCB officials a day after the incident. Investigation into the matter revealed that engineering and safety standards had not been met during construction. The bridge had also not undergone regular inspections as required, it added.

The Quint's report on the collapse can be viewed here:

Clearly, the claim that the persons responsible for the tragedy had not been found or arrested is false. Two months after the collapse, Uttar Pradesh police arrested eight people from the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation responsible for the bridge's construction.

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