"They Worked For 2 Days": How Thieves Dismantled, Stole Bridge In Bihar

Bihar Bridge Robbery: The robbers, posing as government officials attached with the irrigation department in Bihar, used gas cutters and earthmoving machinery to break down an abandoned bridge in Amiyawar village.

Police were seeking to arrest members of a gang who dismantled a 60-feet-long iron bridge and likely sold it off in parts as scrap metal, officials said on Sunday. The robbers, posing as government officials attached with the irrigation department in Bihar, used gas cutters and earthmoving machinery to break down an abandoned bridge in Amiyawar village, about 150 kilometres south from Patna, the state capital.

Selling metal scrap can be a lucrative business in India, where cases of theft of metal parts from public property to sell in large, unorganised scrapyards for quick cash are common.

A police officer said Amiyawar residents assumed that the government officials had decided to dismantle the old bridge, built over a water canal some three decades ago, as it was not in use.

Villagers had previously submitted an application to the irrigation department to dismantle the bridge, one resident said.