India considers possible murder charges in overpass collapse

Indian police said they are investigating possible murder charges against 10 construction company employees who have been either arrested or detained in connection with the collapse of an unfinished overpass in Kolkata that killed at least 26 people.

As rescuers continued clearing rubble from the scene of Thursday’s accident, 69 people have been pulled out alive, but authorities said they doubted more survivors would be found.

Judge Sanchita Sarkar of the Kolkata city court on Saturday remanded three arrested employees of IVRCL Infrastructure Co., which was contracted to build the overpass, to police custody for nine days for questioning and investigation.

Seven other company employees have been detained for questioning, police said.

The employees were being questioned regarding possible charges of murder and culpable homicide, which are punishable by death or life imprisonment, and criminal breach of trust, which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years, police said.

Rescue workers pulled out two more bodies from under the rubble on Saturday, raising the death toll to 26, said police inspector Debashish Chakraborty. The bodies were pinned under concrete slabs and were recovered by emergency workers at the crash site.

Police believe there may be more bodies under the debris.

While most of the injured have been discharged from the hospital, 18 were still undergoing treatment, Chakraborty said.