Assam bridge collapse: 5 arrested, action taken against cops; magisterial probe ordered

Five people have been arrested and disciplinary action has been initiated against three police personnel, including an assistant sub-inspector, in connection with a bridge collapse incident in Assam's Cachar district, a senior police officer said.
The newly repaired bridge over the Harang River on the Silchar–Kalain Road collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday when two overloaded trucks were passing through it, violating weight restrictions.
Though there were no casualties, the incident disrupted road connectivity between Assam's Barak Valley and neighbouring states — Tripura, Mizoram, and Manipur — via Meghalaya.
Locals alleged that the trucks exceeded the permissible weight limit and that police officials were complicit in allowing the overloaded vehicles to pass.
Cachar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Numal Mahatta said that preliminary evidence suggests the collapse was triggered by an accident involving one of the trucks.
'It was raining heavily, and one of the trucks, likely speeding, hit a portion of the bridge while crossing. We are investigating the matter, and action has been taken against three police personnel for allowing the trucks through the checkpoint,' Mahatta said.
The incident has massively impacted local transportation, as the police, along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), have begun operating boat services to assist residents.
Assam minister Kaushik Rai has ordered a high-level probe and directed officials to submit a detailed report on priority.
'I inspected the site and have ordered an investigation. Boat services have been arranged for residents, and alternate routes have been opened for light vehicles,' Rai said.
Cachar district magistrate Mridul Yadav said two alternate routes have been arranged for light vehicles from Barak Valley and neighbouring states.
'It is not true that Barak Valley has been cut off from the rest of the country. We've arranged alternate routes for the movement of light vehicles,' he said.
Yadav also announced that a new bridge will be installed over the river using pre-fabricated materials sourced from Patna.
'It's a ready-to-install Bailey bridge. The materials will take five days to reach, and installation will take another 10 days. We expect normal traffic to resume in 15 days,' he said.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed, and the police have arrested five people: Nizam Uddin Barbhuiya, Kripashindu Baishnab, Altaf Hussain Barbhuiya, Sankhu Bhattacharjee, and Gautam Chandra Paul.
Three of the arrested individuals are employees of the Central Weighbridge, an Assam government-approved facility, while two are staffers of Bharat Electronics Weighbridge, a Haryana-based construction firm.
Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal and former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev alleged that a syndicate engaged in the illegal transportation of limestone and other materials from Barak Valley is behind the incident.
'The bridge collapsed just weeks after repairs, despite crores being spent. The trucks were overloaded, and yet they passed through multiple checkpoints. I believe a major conspiracy is at play, and big names in the government are involved,' Dev said.
She also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said, 'When a bridge collapses in West Bengal, the PM calls it an 'act of fraud.' But now that a similar incident has occurred in BJP-ruled Assam, he is silent.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Indian Express

2 hours ago

• Indian Express

Gagged, threatened with sickle, Faridabad elderly couple robbed of valuables

In a case of daylight robbery, two armed men allegedly broke into the house of an elderly couple at Sector 15-A in Faridabad city, tied them up, and made off with ₹1.85 lakh cash, gold and diamond jewellery, and a car on Thursday. According to the police, the crime occurred in the afternoon when Raghunandan Gandhi, 80, and his wife Vijaya Gandhi, 75, were alone at the residence of their elder son Ashish, a London-based doctor. 'The robbers rang the doorbell asking for water and when Raghunandan went inside to fetch it, the duo jumped over the gate, entered the house, and overpowered the couple. They tied the couple's hands, legs, and mouth, and threatened them with a sickle, demanding money and jewellery,' said a police officer. When the couple said that they did not keep cash in the house and all the jewellery was in a bank locker, the robbers searched the premises and took approximately ₹1.85 lakh in cash, two gold bangles, a diamond pendant, four pairs of diamond studs, and a guild ring, stated the First Information Report based on the complaint filed by the couple's younger son Amit Gandhi, 34, of DLF Sector 10. Before fleeing, the robbers allegedly stole the family's Santro car, the police said. Amit told the police that he received a call from a neighbour around 2.27 pm informing him about the robbery and that his parents were in trouble. The police at the Central Police Station have registered a case under Sections 309(6), 333, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The Crime Branch has been roped in to assist in the investigation, a police spokesperson said. Amit said his parents have been injured and are still in trauma. 'They are having trouble speaking up,' he added.

United News of India

3 hours ago

• United News of India

Punjab cops arrest 2 drug smugglers with over 6 kg heroin

Chandigarh, Jun 21 (UNI) In an intelligence-led operation, Amritsar rural police busted a cross-border drug smuggling racket and apprehended two key suspects, Lovepreet Singh alias Love and Balwinder Singh alias Bobby, said Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav on Saturday. He said a preliminary investigation revealed the accused were in direct contact with a Pakistan-based smuggler via WhatsApp, indicating a strong cross-border nexus. Police recovered 6.15 kg heroin, 1 PX5 pistol (.30 bore) with 4 live cartridges and Rs 10,000 drug money from them. DGP Yadav said an FIR has been registered at Lopoke police station. Further investigations are ongoing. UNI GS PRS

Time of India

3 hours ago

• Time of India

Delhi High Court Protects Domino's Trademark from Unauthorized Pizza Outlets, ET HospitalityWorld

The Delhi High Court has restrained 15 pizzerias from infringing the popular Domino's trademark, underscoring "disastrous consequences" on human health if it was allowed to continue. Justice Saurabh Banerjee was hearing a suit filed by the popular chain Domino's Pizza, a Delaware-based corporation, seeking an ad interim injunction on 15 entities from using deceptively similar marks, such as "Domnic's Pizza, Dominic Pizza, Dominic's Pizza, Domnik Pizza and Daminic Pizza". On May 28, the court in its order said, "It is prima facie evident that the marks of the defendants (15 entities) are deceptively similar and phonetically identical to the plaintiff no 1 (Domino's intellectual property (IP) holder corporation), erstwhile trade name Dominick's Pizza." Advt Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox. All about ETHospitalityWorld industry right on your smartphone! Download the ETHospitalityWorld App and get the Realtime updates and Save your favourite articles. As the dispute involved edible products, the court noted, the threshold for establishing deceptive similarity was lower than for other products."In essence, any confusion between such products, if allowed to continue, can lead to disastrous consequences on human health. Therefore, this court has to adopt a more cautious and stringent approach for judging the likelihood of confusion and to exercise greater care," the order in favour of the corporation in the interim, the court restrained the outlets and their agents from using the "nearly identical or deceptively similar marks" till the next date of hearing on September court also directed online food aggregators Zomato and Swiggy to de-list, take down and suspend the identical or similar listings of the 15 entities from their mobile application, website or any other the plea, the corporation said Domino's was founded in the year 1960 in Michigan, USA, by Tom Monaghan and his brother James when the brothers purchased Dominick's Pizza, a pizza store owned by Dominick DiVarti in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and in 1965, after the brothers purchased two more restaurants, the name was changed from Dominick's to Domino's to the plea, there were over 21,000 Domino's Pizza stores across all continents, and the corporation had been continuously and uninterruptedly using the trademarks Domino's and Domino's Pizza. PTI