The police said passengers were being ferried in unsafe and dangerous manner despite the fact that water was seeping into the motorized boat and its pump was not functioning.
Rana, however, claimed that despite his repeated plea to the passengers not to overcrowd the boat beyond its limited capacity, people forcibly boarded the vessel.
It may be recalled here that the mechanised boat carrying 114 members of a picnic party along with 30 local people had sunk due to overcrowding in the midle of the reservoir on Sunday afternoon.
Sambalpur district collector Balwant Singh has expressed his gratitude to Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and the fire brigade for their role in rescue operation and recovery of bodies from the reservoir.
The Collector also submitted a preliminary report on the incident to government, sources said adding Revenue division commissioner (RDC) P Meherda is conducting a probe into the boat tragedy.
