Balco vice president held in chimney collapse case

Vice president of Balco along with two company officials was arrested in connection with fatal chimney collapse in Chhattisgarh's northeastern district of Korba.

Vice president of Balco along with two company officials was arrested in connection with fatal chimney collapse in Chhattisgarh’s northeastern district of Korba,police said on Tuesday.

Balco’s vice president Viral Mehta and engineers Deepak Narang and Anup Mahapatra were arrested last night for culpable homicide when their names cropped up in the investigation of chimney collapse. The chimney was being constructed at the power plant in Korba,informed district superintendent of police Ratan Lal Dangi.

With the arrest of these three,the total number of officials arrested in the case has reached four,he said,adding DGCL’s project manager Manoj Sharma was arrested a month ago.

Two officials of Chinese firm Sepco,which employed local engineering company GDCL for the construction of the chimney,have also been made accused in the case but they have not been arrested so far,Dangi said.

He said that police investigation is on and other officials could also be arrested.

The arrests were being made on the basis of investigation since no FIR has been lodged,Dangi said.

Last month,40 workers were killed when a chimney at a 1,200-megawatt Balco thermal plant at Korba collapsed amid lightning and heavy storms.

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