Tag: Morbi

MD of firm that operated Morbi suspension bridge surrenders before Gujarat court

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Morbi: Managing Director of Oreva Group Jaysukh Patel, an accused in the last year’s Morbi suspension bridge collapse case who is facing culpable homicide not amounting to murder charges, on Tuesday surrendered before a court here in Gujarat and was subsequently sent to jail.
As many as 135 people were killed and scores others injured when a suspension bridge collapsed in Gujarat’s Morbi town on October 30 last year.
Patel, whose company was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the carriageway, surrendered before the Morbi-based court of chief judicial magistrate which had issued an arrest warrant against him. The court accepted his application for surrender and sent him to jail under judicial custody.
The businessman was named as the tenth accused in the case in a chargesheet filed by the police on January 27.
Ajanta Manufacturing Ltd (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river that collapsed, days after its repairs. Nearly 250 persons were on the more than a century-old hanging bridge, a popular tourist site, when it caved in.
“Jaysukh Patel surrendered before the court of chief judicial magistrate MJ Khan which had issued an arrest warrant against him under section 70 of the CrPC. The court accepted his application and sent him to judicial custody. The police will approach the court and seek his custody,” said Dilip Agechaniya, a lawyer representing families of the victims.
The CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) section 70 deals with warrant of arrest.
As the Oreva Group Managing Director arrived in the court for surrender, angry kin of the victims who had gathered outside the court shouted slogans against him.

After his surrender, Patel was taken for a medical check-up.
“Jaysukh Patel surrendered in the court today. He was sent to judicial custody. We will soon initiate the process of seeking his custody from the court,” said Morbi Superintendent of Police Rahul Tripathi.
In the chargesheet running in more than 1,200 pages and filed in the court of chief judicial magistrate MJ Khan by Deputy Superintendent of Police P S Zala, Patel was shown as the tenth accused.
Earlier, fearing arrest in the case, Patel had moved an anticipatory bail plea in the court and it was due to come up for hearing on February 1.
On October 31, a day after the tragedy, the Morbi police had arrested nine persons in connection with the case, including two managers of the Oreva Group, two ticket booking clerks, two sub-contractors who repaired the bridge and three security guards deployed on the cable-stayed structure to guide and control the crowd.
Two weeks ago, the same court issued an arrest warrant against Patel.
All the ten accused, including Patel, have been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any rash or negligent act) and under 338 (causing grievous hurt by doing rash or negligent act).
During a suo motu (on its own motion) hearing on the tragedy in the Gujarat High Court recently, the Oreva Group offered to pay compensation to the victims. However, the court made it clear the compensation would “not absolve it of any liability”.
A special investigation team (SIT) formed by the state government to probe the collapse had cited several lapses on the part of the firm.
The lapses included no restriction on the number of persons accessing the bridge and no curb on sale of tickets, which led to unrestricted movement on the bridge, as well as carrying out repairs without consulting experts.
The probe had revealed the new metal flooring done by the firm had increased the weight of the structure, while the rusted cables on which the entire bridge was hanging were not changed by the Oreva Group.
Moreover, both contractors hired by Patel’s firm were not qualified to carry out such repair and renovation work, according to the SIT.
The probe report also revealed the Ahmedabad-based Oreva Group did not hire any expert agency to assess the load-bearing capacity of the carriageway before throwing it open to the public after repair and renovation work.
The group had sold 3,165 tickets on October 30 (the day of the collapse) alone and there was no coordination between ticket booking offices on both sides of the bridge, the lower court was informed in the past by the prosecution.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023
Morbi tragedy: Director of Oreva that renovated Gujurat bridge named prime accused

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Morbi: The Gujarat police on Friday submitted a 1,262-page charge sheet in the Morbi bridge collapse case and named Oreva Group director Jaysukh Patel as prime accused.
Rajkot range Inspector General of Police Ashok Yadav told media that the charge sheet is filed against 10 accused, of which nine are arrested while the director is absconding.
Officer said managers Deepak Parekh, Dinesh Dave, three security guards, two ticket clerks and as many private contract workers have been arrested and are in judicial custody.
Patel has moved anticipatory bail application.
Major allegation against Oreva group is that without proper fitness certificate whether the suspension bridge is fit for public or not, the company opened it for visitors.
Nagarpalika said: “We have not issued any fitness certificate to the company, and it has also not informed us that it is opening the suspension bridge for visitors.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 27, 2023
Morbi bridge collapse: Municipality seeks docs seized by SIT to reply to Gujarat govt’s notice

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Morbi: The Morbi municipality has appealed to the Gujarat government to return documents seized by a special investigation team (SIT) probing the collapse of a bridge in the town so it could respond to the government’s show-cause notice asking why the civic body should not be dissolved over the tragedy, which claimed 135 lives.
All the documents are with the government-appointed SIT and the Morbi municipality does not have any document, an official from the civic body has said.
The British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30, 2022. The Gujarat government last week issued a show-cause notice to the Morbi municipality asking why it should not be dissolved for failing to discharge its duties.
In the notice, the state Urban Development Department directed the civic body to submit a written clarification in the form of a general body resolution by January 25.
The bridge was maintained and operated by the Oreva Group as per an agreement signed with the Morbi municipality.
The 52-member Morbi municipality held a meeting on Monday and passed a resolution urging the government to return documents seized by the (government-appointed) SIT so it could respond to the government’s show-cause notice, the civic body’s vice president, Jayrajsinh Jadeja, told reporters after the meeting.
All the 52 elected representatives of the Morbi Municipality are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in the state.
“Since all the documents are with the SIT and the Morbi municipality does not have any document, the municipality passed a resolution urging the government to return them as soon as possible so that it could reply to its notice,” Jadeja said.
In the notice, the Urban Development Department said the previous contract to operate the bridge expired in 2017.

Between 2018 and 2020, the Oreva Group had written several letters to the Morbi municipality warning about the dilapidated condition of the bridge and also cautioned that a serious accident may occur if the bridge remains open to the public in such a condition.
However, the civic body did not take cognizance of such warnings by the company, the notice said.
Moreover, the municipality did not take any concrete action to take over the bridge from the company in 2017 after the completion of the contract and remained inactive despite knowing the situation of the bridge, it said.
Notably, the state government had on December 13 told the Gujarat High Court, which took cognisance of the tragedy on its own and registered a public interest litigation (PIL), that it had decided to dissolve the municipality. The court had turned down the plea of the civic body members to be impleaded as a party 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 as many ticket booking clerks of the Oreva Group that was managing the British-era bridge.
The SIT had cited several lapses on part of the Oreva Group in repairs, maintenance and operation of the carriageway.
A Gujarat court last week also issued an arrest warrant against Jaysukh Patel, managing director of the Oreva Group, after getting an application for the same from police under section 70 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Patel, who is not named as an accused in the FIR, had moved the Morbi sessions court on January 20 for anticipatory bail fearing arrest in the bridge collapse case. The hearing was adjourned till February 1 as the public prosecutor was not present.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 24, 2023
Gujarat company MD moves court for pre-arrest bail in Morbi bridge collapse case

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Morbi: Managing Director of Ajanta Manufacturing Ltd, the firm which was given contract for operation and maintenance of a suspension bridge in Gujarat’s Morbi town that collapsed on October 30 last year killing 135 people, has moved a court here for anticipatory bail fearing arrest in the case.
Jaysukh Patel, moved the anticipatory bail plea in the sessions court in Morbi fearing arrest in the bridge collapse case, sources said.
The plea is likely to be heard on Saturday, they said.
Nine persons, including four employees of Ajanta Manufacturing (Oreva Group), have been arrested so far in the case. They included two managers and an equal number of ticket booking clerks of the Oreva Group that was managing the British-era bridge.
Patel’s name was not included in the first information report (FIR) filed by the police soon after the tragedy.
Police sources said they will file a charge-sheet in the case before January 30.
The suspension bridge on the Machchhu river was being maintained and operated by the Oreva Group as per an agreement signed with Morbi municipality.
Patel’s move comes even as the Gujarat government has issued a show-cause notice to the local municipality asking why it should not be dissolved for failing to discharge its duties that led to the tragedy.

A government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) had cited, among other things, several lapses on part of the Oreva Group in repairs, maintenance and operation of the carriageway.
The lapses cited by the special probe team included no restriction on the number of persons accessing the bridge, no curb on sale of tickets, leading to unrestricted movement on the bridge and carrying out repairs without consulting experts.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 20, 2023