Morbi Bridge accident: Repair company's boss surrenders in court

Jaysukh Patel, managing director of Oreva Group, surrendered before the court on Tuesday in the Morbi bridge accident case of Gujarat. 135 people had lost their lives in the accident. Significantly, in the charge sheet filed by the police on January 27, Patel was named as an accused. He surrendered before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, which issued an arrest warrant against him. Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge over the Machhu river in Morbi, which collapsed on October 30 last year, days after being repaired.

"Jaysukh Patel surrendered in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) MJ Khan, who had issued an arrest warrant against him," said advocate Dilip Agechania, representing the victims in the case. In the over 1,200-page charge sheet filed by Deputy Superintendent PS Zala, Patel was mentioned as the tenth accused. He had also filed an anticipatory bail petition in view of the apprehension of arrest.

A government-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT) had pointed out several lapses in repair, maintenance and operation by the Oreva Group, including not restricting the number of people on the bridge at a time. Apart from this, there was no restriction on the sale of tickets, due to which there was no restriction on the number of visitors to the bridge.