MORBI: The Morbi Police in Gujarat on Friday filed a charge-sheet in the bridge collapse case. Oreva group offers compensation for Morbi bridge collapse, admits 'some wrongs'The police have added Jaysukh Patel — promotor of Ajanta-Oreva group — as an accused and showed him an absconder in the charge-sheet filed in a court.Read AlsoFive unanswered questions about Gujarat's Morbi tragedyAs death toll in Sunday night's hanging bridge collapse mounted to 134 in the worst-ever such catastrophe witnessed in the country in the past decade, several questions about the tragedy remain unanswered.Jaysukh undergroundJaysukh Patel — the main accused in this case — has been incommunicado and underground for the last three months and the police secured an arrest warrant against him under CrPC section 70. Total 135 people had lost their lives on October 30 when a suspension bridge in Morbi town collapsed during Diwali holidays. The police have arrested nine accused in this case including two managers of Oreva group, ticket clerk and security personnel.Before Morbi bridge collapsed: What crowds looked like1,262-page charge-sheetAccording to the police, the charge-sheet contains 1,262 pages and the police have recorded the statements of a total 367 witnesses, including the family members of the deceased and injured people. The charge-sheet also contains the statement of civil hospital doctors and all those doctors of private hospitals who had treated the injured. The statements of other witnesses of this incident were also recorded.CCTV: Morbi bridge collapse caught on cameraThe statement of other concerned persons like the chief officer of Morbi Municipality was also recorded and presented in the charge-sheet. The police recorded around four persons’ statements under CrPC section 164 before the magistrate who provided crucial information which helped police in collecting the evidence. The police impounded documents from Rajkot Mamlatdar, Morbi Municipality and Oreva’s office regarding the contract of maintenance of the bridge assigned to Oreva Group since 2007, the correspondence between collector office, municipality and Oreva also impounded and presented in the charge sheet. The detailed FSL report has not been received yet.The police mentioned the forwarding letters written to the FSL to provide the detailed report, which will be submitted to the court later.
MORBI: The Morbi Police in Gujarat on Friday filed a charge-sheet in the bridge collapse case. Oreva group offers compensation for Morbi bridge collapse, admits 'some wrongs'The police have added Jaysukh Patel — promotor of Ajanta-Oreva group — as an accused and showed him an absconder in the charge-sheet filed in a court.Read AlsoFive unanswered questions about Gujarat's Morbi tragedyAs death toll in Sunday night's hanging bridge collapse mounted to 134 in the worst-ever such catastrophe witnessed in the country in the past decade, several questions about the tragedy remain unanswered.Jaysukh undergroundJaysukh Patel — the main accused in this case — has been incommunicado and underground for the last three months and the police secured an arrest warrant against him under CrPC section 70. Total 135 people had lost their lives on October 30 when a suspension bridge in Morbi town collapsed during Diwali holidays. The police have arrested nine accused in this case including two managers of Oreva group, ticket clerk and security personnel.Before Morbi bridge collapsed: What crowds looked like1,262-page charge-sheetAccording to the police, the charge-sheet contains 1,262 pages and the police have recorded the statements of a total 367 witnesses, including the family members of the deceased and injured people. The charge-sheet also contains the statement of civil hospital doctors and all those doctors of private hospitals who had treated the injured. The statements of other witnesses of this incident were also recorded.CCTV: Morbi bridge collapse caught on cameraThe statement of other concerned persons like the chief officer of Morbi Municipality was also recorded and presented in the charge-sheet. The police recorded around four persons’ statements under CrPC section 164 before the magistrate who provided crucial information which helped police in collecting the evidence. The police impounded documents from Rajkot Mamlatdar, Morbi Municipality and Oreva’s office regarding the contract of maintenance of the bridge assigned to Oreva Group since 2007, the correspondence between collector office, municipality and Oreva also impounded and presented in the charge sheet. The detailed FSL report has not been received yet.The police mentioned the forwarding letters written to the FSL to provide the detailed report, which will be submitted to the court later.
AHMEDABAD: A warrant for the arrest of Jaysukh Patel of the Oreva Group has been issued by a court in Gujarat in connection to the collapse of the Machchu river bridge in Morbi on October 30, which resulted in the deaths of 134 people. The Oreva Group, through its subsidiary Ajanta Manufacturing Limited, had been contracted to renovate and repair the bridge, which was originally built during the British colonial era.On Sunday, Chief Judicial Magistrate of Morbi, MJ Khan, issued an arrest warrant against Patel under section 70 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)."The court issued an arrest warrant against Jaysukh Patel of Oreva Group, which had a contract for the renovation of the Morbi bridge. He has not been arrested for 70 days. No lookout notice issued yet," Government prosecutor Sanjay Vora told ANI yesterday.Notably, Patel had moved to Morbi sessions court on January 20 for anticipatory bail in the case, while the hearing was adjourned till February 1 as the public prosecutor was not present.Patel is not named as an accused in the FIR filed by the police in the case.Nine persons, including four employees of Ajanta Manufacturing (Oreva Group), have been arrested so far in the case. They include two managers and an equal number of ticket booking clerks of the Oreva Group that was managing the British-era bridge.As many as 134 persons lost their lives after a century-old suspension bridge fell into the Machchhu River of Morbi, Gujarat.Gujarat High Court on November 7 took suo motu cognisance of the Morbi accident, issuing notices to officials, including those of the state Home department and seeking a report within a week.The Supreme Court in November said the Morbi bridge collapse incident was an "enormous tragedy", as it asked the Gujarat High Court, which was already holding hearings in the matter suo motu, to hold periodical hearings.(With inputs from ANI)