Morbi tragedy: Victims seek murder charges against Oreva Group MD Jaysukh Patel, other accused

RAJKOT: A fresh application seeking the inclusion of murder charges against Oreva Group managing director Jaysukh Patel and nine other accused was filed in the Morbi session court. The court has scheduled the hearing on the application for July 27.
The application was filed by Narendra Parmar who lost his 10-year-old daughter in the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy.The British-era bridge collapsed on October 31 last year killing 135 people and injuring hundreds of others. The tragedy struck about three weeks after the bridge reopened for public following renovation.
Earlier, the kin of the victims of the bridge collapse tragedy had registered an association and filed a similar application in court through their president Manu Vaghela. However, the court rejected the application questioning the locus standi of Vaghela as he was not among the witnesses included in the chargesheet filed by the police.
The current applicant Parmar not only lost his daughter in the bridge collapse but he and his son were among the hundreds injured in the incident.
"The fresh application has been filed with two prayers. First, include murder charges against Patel and other accused named in the chargesheet. The second prayer is to direct the investigation officer to add office bearers of firm Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, which was responsible for managing the bridge, as accused in the present case," said Utkarsh Dave, advocate representing the victim's family.
In the application, the association formed by the victims has relied on a letter submitted by the Morbi municipality to the Gujarat high court during the hearing of a public interest litigation. The letter was written by Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt Ltd to the then chief officer of the civic body informing them about the precarious condition of the suspension bridge. The firm had also expressed apprehension of an accident with serious consequences in the letter.
Parmar argued in his application, "This clearly shows that the accused persons were eminently aware of the dilapidated condition of the Morbi bridge. Despite this, they executed the repair work only superficially, overloaded the bridge beyond its capacity, and permanently opened the unsafe structure. Such an act under these circumstances attracts section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)."