EVEN AS a Morbi court on Saturday adjourned a plea filed by Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (OREVA Group) managing director Jaysukh Patel seeking protection against arrest in the bridge collapse case , police sources said that Patel is the prime accused in the case and that even a lookout circular (LOC) has been issued against him in order to prevent him fleeing the country.
The court of PC Joshi, the principal district and sessions judge of Morbi, took up Patel’s application filed five days ago, seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
However, the court adjourned the matter till February 1 after the prosecution requested time to file their response against the industrialist’s anticipatory bail plea.
Meanwhile, police sources said that a magisterial court in Morbi has issued an arrest warrant against Patel and that a lookout notice or LOC has also been issued against him to prevent him from fleeing the country.
“After he didn’t respond to repeated police summons to present himself for questioning, police moved the court with a plea to issue an arrest warrant against Patel under Section 70 of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code). The court granted the police application and issued a formal arrest warrant against him on January 13. Later on, an LOC was also issued against him in order to prevent him from fleeing the country,” sources close to the investigation of the case told The Sunday Express.
Jaysukh Patel has remained incommunicado since the after the Jhulto Pul suspension bridge collapsed on October 30 last year after one of its main steel cables snapped and the deck of the historic bridge and more than 300 people who were on it plunged into muddy waters of Machchhu river.
As many as 135 people were killed and 56 others were injured in the bridge collapse. “However, police were collecting evidence against Patel all this while and once they had sufficient evidence against him, he was summoned. But he didn’t respond to them. Therefore, police searched his premises but he was not found there. Eventually, police had to move court to get an arrest warrant issued against him and also have an LOC against him,” sources said.
“Investigation has revealed that he was fully involved in the affairs of the bridge. He is now the prime accused in the case,” sources said.
The bridge belonged to the BJP-ruled Morbi municipality but the civic body had handed its operations and maintenance to OREVA Group in March 2022. The bridge had collapsed four days after Jaysukh Patel threw it open to visitors on October 26 after what he called comprehensive repair and maintenance undertaken from March, 2022 onwards.