Morbi Bridge Tragedy: Gujarat Court Issued Arrest Warrant Against Oreva Group MD Jaysukh Patel

Gujarat’s Morbi Court has issued an arrest warrant against Oreva Group Managing Director (MD) Jaysukh Patel in connection with the Morbi Bridge collapse.

The Oreva Group MD is an accused in relation to the October 30 bridge collapse in Morbi in which 134 people died.

M.J. Khan, Chief Judicial Magistrate of Morbi, issued an arrest warrant for Jaysukh Patel under Section 70 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Speaking to media, government prosecutor Sanjay Vora said that, “The court issued an arrest warrant for Jaysukh Patel of Oreva Group, which had a contract for the Morbi bridge renovation. He has been free for 70 days without being arrested. There hasn’t been a lookout notice issued yet.”

Meanwhile, Patel applied to Morbi Sessions Court on January 20 for anticipatory bail in the case, but the hearing was postponed until February 1 due to the absence of the public prosecutor.

The contract to renovate, repair, and operate the British-era bridge on the Machchu river in Morbi had been awarded to Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group).

So far, nine people have been arrested in the case, including four Ajanta Manufacturing (Oreva Group) employees. They include two Oreva Group managers and an equal number of ticket booking clerks who were in charge of the British-era bridge.

On November 7, the Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognisance of the Morbi accident, issuing notices to officials, including those from the state Home Department, and requesting a report within a week.

In November, the Supreme Court called the Morbi bridge collapse a “enormous tragedy,” and asked the Gujarat High Court, which was already hearing the case on its own, to hold periodic hearings.