A man died and three others were injured on Saturday after a section of the under-construction Mumbai Metro Line 4 collapsed in Mulund. The Maharashtra government has arrested five people and suspended an executive engineer in connection with the tragedy. A penalty of Rs 6 crore was also imposed against the contractors and consultants involved in the project. Social media posts however indicate a concerning issue — with many on Reddit ‘predicting’ a tragedy more than a week before the incident.

The construction work in Mulund first came under the focus of Redditors last week after a user shared photos of “cracks” in a pillar. The user explained that they had also “sent a complaint to MMRDA” and shared the details on other social platforms.

“Suspected crack on Metro 4 pillar in Mulund. Spotted this while travelling from Thane to Bhandup. I could not see the pillar number nor did I know any landmark. But thankfully, I had enabled geotagging on photos. I have sent a complaint to MMRDA. Are there any other authorities that I should reach out to? Better be safe than sorry,” read a Reddit post uploaded last week.

The post had sparked widespread concern — with many urging their fellow netizens to avoid the route. Some in the comment section insisted that the bridge would only be repaired after an accident brought it to the notice of authorities. Another post on the Thane subreddit had also flagged “falling debris” while travelling underneath the Ghodbunder metro area nearly two months ago.

The MMRDA also issued a ‘fact-check’ after the post was picked up by other X handles and re-shared with slightly edited details. The agency had called it a “misguided or deliberate attempt to spread panic” and flagged the post for “spreading misinformation” on X. It also highlighted the “robust approval process” followed for metro construction which involved nearly 1,200 approvals.

“During concreting, foam sheets were temporarily used to seal shutter gaps and prevent leakage of cement slurry. What appeared in the photographs were remnants of this foam material, not structural cracks. These remnants were identified, removed, and surface-finished by grinding during the night of February 7 (Saturday). The structure is safe and structurally sound, and there is no cause for concern,” the MMRDA insisted.

“I Rest my case. A slab near pier p196 has fallen, claiming the life of a rickshaw driver and injuring 4 others of which some are said to be in critical condition. This occurred just 7 piers away from the one that I pointed out – p189. This highlights the quality of construction which is claimed to pass 1200 approvals by MMRDA,” the original Reddit poster wrote soon after the incident on Saturday.

Parapet segment of Metro bridge comes crashing down

One person was killed and others injured on Saturday as a segment of the bridge collapsed. The incident took place near Johnson and Johnson factory on LBS Road at 12.15 pm — with the parapet segment falling crushing a passing autorickshaw and landing on a Skoda car. A First Information Report was consequently registered at the Mulund police station against officials of contractor firm Milan Road Buildtech under relevant sections of the BNS.

Multiple accounts given on social media suggest that the accident in question involved another location in the same area — but not the pillar flagged in social media for having ‘cracks’. Financial Express could not independently verify the details.

BJP MLA says he flagged ‘lapses’ last month

Local BJP MLA Mihir Kotecha claimed that he had flagged the “lapses” committed by the contractor during an inspection of the Metro works last month. He blamed the MMRDA and contractor — alleging that workers had mistakenly cut the parapet segment instead of welding and securing it, and no supervisor was present at the time in violation of the Standard Operating Procedure.

“Such critical work must be carried out under supervision. The weakened structure collapsed nearly 11 hours later,” the legislator said quoting a Metro official.

Kotecha said he himself had carried out an inspection of the Metro work along the LBS Road with civic and MMRDA officials last month and identified “serious lapses” at more than 55 locations. He also claimed that the contractor had earlier been red-flagged for negligence on the LBS Road stretch.

“I had formally requested action against the contractor and wrote to MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee recommending blacklisting and suspension. I also raised the matter during the winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,” he added.