Bihar: Police arrests 8 including govt official for stealing 60-feet bridge in Rohtas

On Sunday, Bihar Police arrested eight people including a Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) of the water resources department in connection with the theft of the 60-foot abandoned bridge in the Rohtas district. 

"We have arrested eight persons including an SDO officer of the water resources department in connection with the theft of the bridge. The thieves stole the bridge in connivance with the SDO. We have recovered one JCB, stolen iron channels weighing about 247 kgs and other material," Rohtas SP Ashish Bharti told ANI. According to a police officer, they have recovered one JCB, 247 kg of stolen iron channels, and other items from the accused's possession. 

In Bihar's Rohtas district, a group of robbers posing as state irrigation department officials pulled off an astonishing theft by taking a 60-foot abandoned bridge in broad daylight. The criminals arrived with JCBs, pickup vans, gas cutters, and automobiles, according to the police, and cut off the entire bridge in three days before disappearing.

Thieves steal bridge in Bihar

A bunch of individuals, misrepresenting themselves as Irrigation Department officials, stole a shaky 60-foot long, 500-tonne weighed steel-made bridge. The incident took place in Amiyawar village in the Rohtas district wherein a 10 feet wide and 12 feet high bridge, atop an in-land Ara Sone canal, was uprooted.

The local administration was unaware of the theft crime while alleged robbers drove a construction/demolition vehicle JCB along with a truck and took away the uprooted bridge in front of the whole town. The thieves came to the area with equipment, bulldozers and gas torches, and nobody sensed the crime until the bridge was looted from the spot, before everyone's eyes. 

It may be noted that the stolen bridge was reportedly built in the year 1972 and locals had already raised safety concerns and applied for its removal. However, they could not anticipate that they could be tricked into someone's alleged plans to steal a bridge.