A Gujarat court on Sunday has issued an arrest warrant against Oreva Group managing director Jaysukh Patel in connection with the bridge collapse in Morbi that claimed 134 lives.
It was Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) which has secured the contract to renovate, repair and operate the British era bridge on the Machch river in Morbi, Gujarat. The warrant is issued after 70 days of the incident.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Morbi, M.J. Khan issued an arrest warrant under section 70 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
"The court issued an arrest warrant against Jaysukh Patel of Oreva Group, which has a contract for the renovation of Morbi bridge. He has not been arrested for 70 days. No lookout notice issued yet," Government prosecutor Sanjay Vora told ANI.
Patel had moved for anticipatory bail to Morbi sessions court on January 20. The hearing was adjourned till February 1 as the public prosecutor was not present.
However, Patel, who is currently on the run, was not named as an accused in the FIR filed by the police in the case, with the recent court intervention they are planning to include his name in the prime accused list, said reports.
So far in the case, the police have arrested nine people including four staff of the Oreva group.
The Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognisance of the Morbi accident and sought a report from the Home Ministry.
The Supreme Court (SC) in November said that the Morbi bridge collapse incident was an "enormous tragedy" and asked the Gujarat High Court to hold periodical hearings.
