Ahmedabad Three months after 135 people died in the collapse of a British-era bridge in Gujarat’s Morbi town, the prime accused in the case surrendered before a local court on Tuesday and was later arrested by police on charges of culpable homicide and endangering human life.
Jaysukh Patel — the managing director of Oreva Group that was responsible for the maintenance, repair and operations of the 143-year-old suspension bridge — gave himself up to the Morbi-based court of chief judicial magistrate MJ Khan. The court, which had issued warrant for his arrest, later sent the businessman to jail under judicial custody; the businessman was subsequently arrested by the police.
“We have arrested him after the court allowed his custody. We will seek his remand in due course,” Morbi superintendent of police Rahul Tripathi said.
The surrender and arrest cap three months of investigation during which Patel inexplicably evaded police interrogation and summons, even as authorities said he was absconding.
Soon after the news of his surrender spread, members of the victims’ family reached the court premises and raised slogans against Patel.
Gujarat Police named Patel as the main accused in its 1,262-page charge sheet filed on January 27. Nine other accused — including two managers of the Oreva Group, two ticket booking clerks, two subcontractors who repaired the bridge, and three security guards deployed on the cable-stayed structure to guide and control the crowd — were arrested a day after the tragedy on October 30.
After repeated summons for questioning were ignored by Patel, the state police approached a local court in Morbi in the second week of January, which granted an arrest warrant against him on January 13. All 10 accused, including Patel, were charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 336 (act which endangers human life), 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any rash or negligent act), and 338 (causing grievous hurt by doing rash or negligent act).
In March 2022, Oreva group, which specialises in making clocks, home appliances and e-bikes, was given the contract to repair, renovate, maintain and operate the “Jhulto Pul”, or suspension bridge, originally built in 1879.
After ostensibly going through a renovation process and being shut for a few months, the bridge was thrown open for the public on October 26 by Patel and members of his family. Three days later, the bridge collapsed even as questions were raised about the quality of the repairs, and the number of people that were allowed on the bridge at one time.
According to officials, there were nearly 250 people on the bridge, a popular tourist site in the area, when it collapsed.
The firm later offered to pay compensation to the victims, but the court made it clear the compensation would “not absolve it of any liability”.
A government-appointed special investigation team (SIT) to probe the collapse cited several lapses on the part of the firm.
The lapses included no restriction on the number of people accessing the bridge and no curb on sale of tickets, which led to unrestricted movement on the bridge. The group had sold 3,165 tickets on October 30 (the day of the collapse) alone.
The firm was also accused of carrying out repairs without consulting experts to assess the load-bearing capacity of the bridge before throwing it open to the public. During the probe, it was revealed that the new metal flooring increased the overall weight of the structure, and the firm did not change the rusting cables on which the bridge was hanging.
On January 18, the state government issued a show-cause notice to the Morbi municipality asking why it should not be dissolved for failing to discharge its duties that led to the bridge tragedy. The civic body was asked to file a response by January 25.
The 52-member municipality passed a resolution on January 23 and urged the Gujarat government to return documents seized by the Special Investigation Team so they can respond to the show-cause notice.
On January 16, Patel, who has not been seen in public since the tragedy, moved an anticipatory bail plea in a Morbi sessions court. On January 21, the court deferred the hearing till February 1 as the public prosecutor was not present.