BAREILLY: A portion of the newly-constructed Bareilly-Sitapur stretch of the NH-24 caved in after heavy rains on Friday. The NHAI restricted movement of vehicles on the highway. The stretch, opened to public in April, became the second such incident this week after a portion of the Agra-Lucknow expressway caved in on Wednesday.

Mukesh Sharma, project director, NHAI, told TOI, “Incessant rains over the past couple of days led to a major portion on one side of the highway caving in along with major cracks elsewhere.”

NHAI terminated its contract with Era Infra Engineering Limited, the firm which was assigned construction of the 157km Bareilly-Sitapur stretch of NH-24, on Saturday. NHAI said the firm had stopped construction for several months without giving any information to the authority and made no reply to notices issued to it over the past three monthss.

The firm’s owner, Delhi-based industrialist Hem Singh Bharana, 55, is facing a multi-agency probe by CBI, ED and others for allegedly duping several leading Indian banks and other lending institutions to the tune of over Rs 10,000 crore. He has been accused of borrowing money from banks, defaulting payments and laundering money.

“To complete the remaining work, we are going to initiate the procedure to float fresh tenders. Besides, the company will also be blacklisted,” Sharma said.

