Oreva Group MD Jaysukh Patel walks out of jail after SC grants him bail in Morbi bridge collapse case
Jaysukh Patel is the ninth accused to be released on bail in connection with the Morbi bridge collapse case in which 135 people were killed in 2022.
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Relatives of Morbi suspension bridge tragedy victims sit on Dharna near Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati seeking justice as one year has passed since the tragedy. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)Industrialist Jaysukh Patel, who was in jail for more than a year after being arrested in connection with the Morbi Jhulto Pul collapse, walked out of jail on Tuesday after a local court issued a release order, days after the Supreme Court granted him bail.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court had directed the Morbi District and Sessions Court to decide conditions to grant bail to Patel, managing director, Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (APML) of Oreva group.
“Patel was released at around 3 pm after the district and sessions court issued an order to release him on bail,” D M Gohel, jailor, Morbi District Jail told The Indian Express on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Morbi court had also ordered Patel to stay out of the Morbi district during the pendency of the trial and surrender his passport as bail conditions. “The Supreme Court had directed the trial court to decide conditions of granting bail to Jaysukhbhai (Patel) in the Jhulto Pul case. Accordingly, the trial court imposed seven conditions on him while ordering his release today,” Vijay Jani, government pleader, Morbi, told the media.
“The court has ordered him to furnish a bail bond worth Rs 1 lakh, not to influence witnesses, not to leave the country without prior permission of the court, and submit his passport to the court within seven days. He will stay out of the district boundary of Morbi till the pendency of the trial except for attending court hearings,” added Jani.
Patel is the ninth accused to walk out of jail in connection with the case in which 135 people were killed. Now only one accused, Devang Parmar, is in jail.
Patel’s Oreva Group had the operations and maintenance contract of the Morbi Jhulto Pul, a historic suspension bridge across river Machchhu when one of its cables snapped and a few hundred people plunged into the river on October 31, 2022.
While two managers of his firm, two ticket booking clerks at the bridge, three security guards, and two contractors were arrested by police after the accident, Patel had not responded to repeated summons and evaded arrest. Eventually, he surrendered before a court in Morbi on January 21, 2023.
In a charge sheet, the police have named Patel as the prime accused in the case registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by doing acts so rashly or negligently as to endanger life or personal safety of others), and 114 (abettor present when an offence is committed), among others.
The Morbi District and Sessions Court as well as the Gujarat High Court had turned down Patel’s bail applications before the Supreme Court eventually granted him relief.
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