Morbi Bridge Collapse: News Strike Around Jaysukh Patel, Police Filed Chargesheet

The Morbi police has filed a chargesheet on Friday in the case of the 2022 Morbi suspension bridge collapse, which killed 134 people.

A charge sheet of one thousand two hundred and sixty two (1,262) pages has been filed against Jaysukh Patel of the Oreva Group, and previously, on January 24, a Gujarat court issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with the October 30 Morbi bridge collapse, which killed 134 people.

Oreva Group had secured the contract to renovate, repair and operate the British-era bridge on the Machchu river in Morbi.

On Sunday, Morbi Chief Judicial Magistrate MJ Khan issued an arrest warrant under section 70 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against Patel (CrPC).

According to government prosecutor Sanjay Vora, “The court issued an arrest warrant for Jaysukh Patel of Oreva Group, which had a contract for the Morbi bridge renovation. He has not been arrested in 70 days.”

Notably, Patel had applied to the Morbi Sessions Court on January 20 for anticipatory bail in the case; however, because the public prosecutor was not present, the hearing was adjourned till February 1.

In the FIR filed by police in the case, Patel is not listed as an accused party. Nine people have been arrested in connection with the case so far, including four Oreva Group employees. They include two managers and an equal number of ticket sales clerks from the Oreva Group, which was incharge of managing the British-era bridge.

On November 7, the Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognisance of the Morbi accident and issued notices to officials, including the state home department, seeking a report within a week.

In November, the Supreme Court said the Morbi bridge collapse occurrence as an “enormous tragedy” and asked the Gujarat High Court, which was already holding hearings in the matter suo motu, to hold periodical hearings.