A local court in Morbi sent Jaysukh Patel, the managing director of Oreva, to police custody till February 8 against the police’s demand for 14 day custody. The promoter of the Oreva organisation appeared before the court despite spending 24 hours in police prison.
The prosecution argued that in spite of the bridge’s capacity to carry only 100 people at a time, there were more than 400 people on the bridge on October 30, when it collapsed killing 135 people and injuring many more.
Before the chief judicial magistrate, the special public prosecutor appointed for this case, S K Vora, argued before the chief judicial magistrate M J Khan that the prosecution seeks 14-day remand to gather evidence during Patel's confinement on a few essential grounds.
Vora added that the initial agreement for the maintenance and management of the bridge between the Oreva group and the Morbi municipality had expired in 2017, so why was the bridge still in their control? Along with questioning the type of consents obtained from the various government entities at various times, Vora said in court that the prosecution also intended to look into any illicit gratification by politicians, collectorate officials, or other municipal or collection authorities.
The police also want to see the accounts regarding the bridge maintained by the Oreva group between 2017 and 2022, which were allegedly not audited by the company. It’s also argued that the bridge collapse was not an accident as Patel knew fully well that the bridge was in a dilapidated condition. According to the prosecution, Patel was on the run for the past 91 days and they want to find out who gave him shelter during this period.