Bareilly Bridge Accident: Google Maps, PWD Officials Booked After Car's Fatal Plunge Kills 3

The case listed a regional manager of Google and four PWD engineers as accused on a complaint from a revenue official in Bareilly.

Badaun: Uttar Pradesh police on Monday registered a case against 5 people including 4 PWD engineers in the Bareilly under construction bridge accident, based on a complaint from the Deputy Tehsildar of Dataganj.

The fifth accused is cited as a regional manager of Google Maps, but the name of the person has not been mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR).

On Saturday night, three youths died after their car fell down from an under-construction bridge in village Muda on Badaun-Dataganj road in Faridpur police station area of ​​Bareilly late. The accident allegedly took place as the car followed Google Maps and fell from the bridge into the Ramganga river.

The deceased youths had hired a taxi from Ghaziabad and were going to Faridpur via Badaun to attend their cousin's wedding. They were identified as Amit and Nitin, residents of Farrukhabad. The car driver Kaushal Kumar of Mainpuri also died.

After the accident, District Magistrate Badaun Nidhi Srivastava has ordered the Deputy Tehsildar to probe the incident. PWD officer Naresh Kumar said that sign boards and other measures will be placed at the bridge to warn the road users. "A report is being submitted to the government and the work will be done as per the directions of the government," he said.

As directed by the DM, Naib Tehsildar Dataganj Chhavi Ram preferred a complaint against the regional manager of Google Map and Assistant Engineer of Public Works Department Mohammad Arif, Abhishek Kumar, Junior Engineer Ajay Gangwar and Maharaj Singh, resulting in an FIR being registered in a Bareilly police station.

Google, in a statement, expressed its condolences and offered to cooperate with the investigation. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families. We're working closely with the authorities and providing our support to investigate the issue."

According to Faridpur Circle Officer(CO) Ashutosh Shivam, a portion of the bridge was destroyed in a flood.

"Earlier this year, floods caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse onto the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," PTI quoted him as saying. Shivam said the bridge also had no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach when the incident happened.

The ETV Bharat team visited the accident spot to find out how the tragic accident took place at the under construction bridge.

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