Raipur, Jan 13 (IANS) A court in Chhattisgarh’s Korba town Wednesday deferred till Jan 18 the bail hearing of three Chinese engineers arrested Monday in connection with a power plant chimney crash Sep 23 that killed 41 workers.
Appearing on behalf of the Chinese engineers, B.K. Shukla submitted a bail application before the district and sessions court of M.D. Katulkar. The hearing was deferred till Jan 18 as government prosecutor J.N. Chandra informed the court that the police had not prepared the case diary.

The Chinese engineers were arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the chimney crash.

The engineers were employed with Chinese construction company, Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), that was building a 1200-MW thermal power plant in Korba town, about 240 km from state capital Raipur, for Vedanta Resources Plc-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco).

The arrested Chinese include Woo Chunan, SEPCO’s project in-charge and two civil engineers. They have been in the district hospital in Korba since Tuesday when they complained of health problems after they were brought to the district jail following the court sending them to judicial custody.

The under-construction chimney, that was designed to be 275 metres high and came crashing midway, was being built by Indian construction company, Gannon Dunkerley and Company Limited (GDCL) that had bagged the chimney construction order from the SEPCO.