Gujarat Morbi bridge collapse: Accused Oreva MD surrenders before court
1 min read . Updated: 31 Jan 2023, 04:26 PM IST
Premium- Patel was named as an accused in the chargesheet filed by police on January 27.
Morbi bridge collapse: Oreva Group managing director, who was accused for the fatal collapse of the Morbi Bridge collapse that killed 135 people in Gujarat on Tuesday surrendered in front of a Gujarat court.
Patel was named as an accused in the chargesheet filed by police on January 27. He surrendered before the court of chief judicial magistrate which had issued an arrest warrant against him.
Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi that collapsed on October 30 last year, days after its repairs.
"Jaysukh Patel surrendered before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) M J Khan which had issued an arrest warrant against him," said Dilip Agechaniya, a lawyer representing victims in the case.
In the chargesheet comprising more than 1,200 pages filed by Deputy Superintendent of Police P S Zala in the CJM's court, Patel was shown as the tenth accused. He had also moved an anticipatory bail plea fearing arrest.
On 30 October 2022 a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat, India, collapsed, causing the deaths of at least 135 people and injuries to more than 180 others.
The 19th-century bridge had reopened five days earlier, in time for Diwali and the Gujarati New Year, following a lengthy closure for repairs.
On 30 October 2022, five days after reopening, the bridge collapsed at 6:40 p.m. More than five hundred people were on the bridge at the time of the collapse, far exceeding the official capacity of 125.
Security footage of the bridge showed the structure shaking violently and people holding onto cables and fencing on either side of the bridge before the walkway gave way. Images of rescue and recovery operations showed the walkway had divided at its midpoint, with some pieces still hanging from snapped cables.
