Accused in Sanjana's death still a free man

Two years on, and Muniratna Naidu, the prime accused in the veterinary college compound wall collapse case which claimed the life of 17-year old Sanjana Singh, is still outside the purview of any investigation. Naidu is a corporator from Yeshwantpur.

Former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, who initiated a probe into the death, has come out in the open criticising the government. He has said that the accused had exercised clear ‘influence’ to get the case buried.

Hegde told Deccan Herald: “I will clearly say that the person who has been in the limelight by releasing big budget movies, Muniratna, finds a mention in the report. Yet, no action has been initiated,” he said. Muniratna was the main contractor in the construction of the compound wall. 

Blaming the apathy and absolute ‘inhumane’ nature of the administration in the State, Hegde said no action had been initiated against the accused even as his report had indicted the contractor and BBMP engineers. 

“We had strongly recommended that the culprits must be punished, including the contractor, for their acts of negligence. But the administration appears to have lost its humanitarian objectives,” he said.

He said that had he been from a less ‘influential family’, the accused would by now have paid the price of negligence. “It may be an accident. But it is an accident with a human error,” he said.

In July 2010, the Lokayukta had held Naidu, four engineers of BBMP and a construction company responsible for the wall collapse which claimed the life of Sanjana on June 1, 2010.

The Lokayukta, in its report, had instructed the BBMP to submit an action taken report within three months, but to no avail. The report had said: “Any person with minimum common sense can assess that the wall constructed in such an unscientific manner with poor quality of mortar will collapse any time.” 

It observed that those who were responsible for the construction of the wall and its supervision would certainly know that the wall built in such a manner would collapse any moment and that “it would endanger the life or limb of persons who pass by the side of the wall, which abuts the airport road.”