Morbi bridge case: HC grants bail to 3 security guards

Before the accused could make submissions arguing for bail, state Public Prosecutor Mitesh Amin told the court of Justice Samir Dave, “Principal liability according to investigation and prosecution, appears to be that of Oreva Group as well as the persons who performed the job of fabrication. So, these three petitions (of the accused seeking bail), being (filed) post chargesheet and considering they were acting as security personnel, if it appeals to the court, it may exercise its jurisdiction.”

Justice Dave immediately orally remarked that the petitions are allowed.

However, Amin requested that the order for grant of bail may record that it is only restricted to these three persons. “…so that tomorrow, other accused who are probably sitting on the fence, those fence-sitters may come before the court and may say that others have been granted (bail) and therefore, parity (would apply to them as well). So, that aspect be taken care of,” Amin said.

Senior advocate B B Naik, representing the accused, told HC that the three were working as labourers and during the holidays (Diwali), they were deployed at the bridge as security personnel.

The detailed order of the court is yet to be made public. The Morbi bridge collapse had killed 135 people. In all, 10 stand accused in the case, including Oreva Group MD Jaysukh Patel.

In relation to the three, the chargesheet in the case had stated that they worked as loading workers at Oreva Group, and were neither trained nor experienced in working as guards. They were deputed as security guards on the bridge upon instructions from accused number 1 (Deepak Parekh), who in turn was taking instructions from Jaysukh Patel, the chargesheet added.

It further said that the three took up the job for financial gain and failed in their duties of monitoring and patrolling the bridge as well as managing the crowd, and owing to their lapse, there was gross negligence, leading to the incident.