Shershah Bridge collapse case

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

NHA chairman among nine officials granted pre-arrest bail

Thursday, April 29, 2010
By Shamim Bano

Karachi

A sessions court on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to nine senior officials of National Highway Authority, including its sitting chairman, in the Shershah bridge collapse case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (West) Gulshan Ara Chandio granted bail to the nine officials, including Altaf Ahmed Choudhry, the then member planning and now Chairman NHA, on a surety of Rs 1 million.

Those granted bail, included: former chairman NHA Major General (retd) Farrukh Javed, Member Planning NHA Raja Nausherwan, General Manager Construction Mohammed Yousuf Barakzai, General Manager Construction Colonel Tehseen-ul-Haq, Engineer Planning Syed Najeeb-ul-Hasan, Chairman Engineer Construction International Ltd Zaheer Mirza, his sons Director Khalid Mirza and Director Naveed Mirza.

The court summoned police file on the next date of hearing on May 8 and also extended time for submission of final charge-sheet against the accused as the copies were not supplied to them.

The one kilometer patch of Shershah bridge over the Karachi Northern Bypass had collapsed only after 25 days of its inauguration on September 1, 2007, leaving five people dead including three women and causing injuries to 14 others, besides causing huge loss to national exchequer. Six vehicles were also damaged in the incident and a large number of people were trapped underneath the bridge.

On the orders of Supreme Court, SITE police station registered FIR No. 181/10 against them on April 7 under sections 322 (punishment for Qatle bis Sabab), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel), 337-H(1) (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act, punishment for causing hurt by mistake), 337 A(1) (punishment for Shujja), and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The FIR was registered after the PM Inquiry Commission Team submitted its report. Former president Pervez Musharaf had inaugurated the Shershah bridge.

The Sindh government constituted a team and despatched it to Islamabad on April 12 for the arrest of the then NHA chairman Farrukh Javed and Yousuf Barakzai. The Prime Minister’s Inspection Team, headed by Lt Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmed and comprising structural experts, was formed to investigate the incident.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry initiated suo-moto proceedings in the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry and ordered the arrest of the accused and paying compensation to the victims.