The Hirakud police on Wednesday arrested Akshaya Rana, one of the two drivers of the ill-fated motorboat which capsized in the Hirakud Dam reservoir on Sunday killing 31 people.
The police have registered a case against the two motorboat drivers Akshaya Rana and Anjan and owner of the motorboat Satyananda Pande alias Satia (40) of Budharaja area of Sambalpur under Sections 280, 282, 304 (A) after the incident.Efforts were on to arrest the remaining two accused, police said. According to reports, Satia had taken the ferry ghat at Talaba panchayat on lease for Rs 40,000.
While the tenure of the lease expired in May last year, it could not be renewed due to business rivalry.
Taking opportunity of the lapses, Satia had been illegally ferrying passengers in two motorboats from Sonutikra Ghat to Karanjatala Ghat from the morning to evening with a one-hour break in the afternoon session.
Meanwhile, as per the Government’s decision Northern Division Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) Pramod Meherda began his probe into the reasons for the boat tragedy.
On Tuesday, Meherda had told reporters that he would look into all possible angles of the tragedy.He said passenger security, matters pertaining to licensing of boats and the role of the Water Resources Department would be taken into account during the probe.Rescue and search operations were closed on Tuesday after the body of the last missing person was fished out from the reservoir.