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MORBI (GUJARAT): The sessions court here is scheduled to hear the anticipatory bail application of maintenance contractor and operator Oreva Group’s promoter Jaysukh Patel on February 1 over the Morbi suspension footbridge collapse that claimed 135 lives.
Apart from him, the other nine people named in the chargesheet are Oreva executives Deepak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, ticketing clerks Mansukh Topiya and Mahadev Solani, security guards Alpesh Gohil, Dilip Gohil and Mansukh Chauhan, and subcontractor Prakash Parmar and his son Devang. The nine are already in custody. Patel has been named “absconder”.
Oreva Group’s flagship clockmaking company Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, which had been contracted to maintain and operate the rickety British-era bridge, did a shoddy job of renovating the structure before reopening it to the public on Gujarati New Year last October, according to the special investigation team that probed the disaster.
Besides Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC, the chargesheet invokes Section 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) along with 336, 337 and 338, all pertaining to negligent acts endangering people’s lives.
The chargesheet includes the statements of 367 witnesses, many of them family members of the deceased and those injured in the October 30 tragedy. The police have also recorded the statements of doctors at Morbi Civil Hospital and private facilities where the injured were treated, and the chief officer of Morbi municipality. The statements of four people who provided information crucial to collecting evidence were recorded by a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
Investigators also seized sheaves of documents linked to maintenance contracts since 2007 from the offices of the revenue department of Rajkot, Morbi municipality and the company. They recorded correspondence between the collector’s office, municipality authorities and the company. In 2007, Morbi was a part of Rajkot district.
According to the chargesheet, all communication between Oreva and Morbi municipality and the sub-contracts awarded by the company bear Patel’s signature. Police are yet to receive the detailed Forensic Science Laboratory report on what caused the bridge to cave in.
Apart from him, the other nine people named in the chargesheet are Oreva executives Deepak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, ticketing clerks Mansukh Topiya and Mahadev Solani, security guards Alpesh Gohil, Dilip Gohil and Mansukh Chauhan, and subcontractor Prakash Parmar and his son Devang. The nine are already in custody. Patel has been named “absconder”.
Oreva Group’s flagship clockmaking company Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, which had been contracted to maintain and operate the rickety British-era bridge, did a shoddy job of renovating the structure before reopening it to the public on Gujarati New Year last October, according to the special investigation team that probed the disaster.
Besides Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC, the chargesheet invokes Section 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) along with 336, 337 and 338, all pertaining to negligent acts endangering people’s lives.
The chargesheet includes the statements of 367 witnesses, many of them family members of the deceased and those injured in the October 30 tragedy. The police have also recorded the statements of doctors at Morbi Civil Hospital and private facilities where the injured were treated, and the chief officer of Morbi municipality. The statements of four people who provided information crucial to collecting evidence were recorded by a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
Investigators also seized sheaves of documents linked to maintenance contracts since 2007 from the offices of the revenue department of Rajkot, Morbi municipality and the company. They recorded correspondence between the collector’s office, municipality authorities and the company. In 2007, Morbi was a part of Rajkot district.
According to the chargesheet, all communication between Oreva and Morbi municipality and the sub-contracts awarded by the company bear Patel’s signature. Police are yet to receive the detailed Forensic Science Laboratory report on what caused the bridge to cave in.
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