Morbi bridge collapse: Oreva group manager calls it an 'Act of God' in Court, reveals advocate

In a major turn in the Morbi bridge collapse case in Gujarat the Additional Public Prosecutor of the case made a huge revelation saying that one of the accused managers of the Oreva company cited Act of God in the court as a reason for the tragic mishapOne of the two managers of Oreva company that have been arrested told the court that it is an Act of God said Additional Public Prosecutor Advocate HS PanchalAnother major revelation came up to the fore that the cable wires of the bridge were not in the ideal condition to be opened for the general masses and were rusting awayIn the Forensic Science Laboratory FSL report the Investigating Officer IO said that the cable of bridgewas rusting away The Investigating Officer says that only flooring of the bridge was done and the cables were not changed oilinggreasing also wasnt done Advocate HS Panchal said Adding that Prima facie FSL officer says that it was an old cableAsked about details of the accused sent to police custody today Panchal said Out of the 4 people who were sent to Police custody two are managers at Oreva Co and two others did fabrication work for the bridge The five others who were sent to judicial custody are security personnel and ticket vendorsAlso Read Gujarat observes statewide mourning to condole loss of lives in Morbi bridge collapseIn the report the Investigating Officer IO stated that the tender process did not take place and contract was directly allotted Advocate Panchal further saidOut of nine persons arrested pertaining to the October 30 collapse of the centuryold suspension bridge killing 135 people Gujarats Morbi Court on Wednesday has sent four people to police custody and the remaining five into judicial custody till November 5Of the four persons in police custody two are managers of the Oreva company which threw the bridge open for visitors after seven months of maintenance works and the other two are fabrication work contractors peopleSpeaking on the ongoing investigation Rahul Tripathi SP Morbi said We are questioning all the four accused in our custody and we are trying to establish the liability of the different kinds of lapses in the bridge renovation We are doing a thorough investigation and if anyones role comes forward he or she will be booked and arrestedHe added further Yes We have given a scientific report to the court but details of the same cant be shared with you at this stage as this will hamper our investigationThe Gujarat Police has filed a First Information Report under IPC sections 304 and 308 culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the bridge collapse tragedyEarlier the Gujarat government constituted a fivemember committee to probe the bridge collapse incidentAn FIR has been registered against the maintenance and management agencies of the bridge under Sections 304 culpable homicide not amounting to murder 308 attempt to commit culpable homicide and 114 abettor present when offense is committed of the India Penal Code said Morbi B Division Police Inspector Prakashbhai DekavadiyaBriefing mediapersons here Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said The death toll in the Morbi hanging bridge collapse incident has gone up to 132 The Chief Minister has constituted a high power committee yesterday itself while leaving Ahmedabad All officers posted at different locations were asked to report at Morbi by 2 am The investigation is going onThe Gujarat Home Minister further informed that a criminal case has been registered in connection with the incidentAn investigation has begun today under the leadership of Range IGP Sanghavi said Everyone worked all through the night The Navy NDRF National Disaster Relief Force Air Force and Army arrived at the spot quickly More than 200 persons have worked the entire night for search and rescue operations Sanghavi saidAt least 135 people including women and children were killed and over 100 are receiving treatment for their injuries sustained after a cable suspension bridge in Morbi town collapsed on Sunday plunging people into the Machchhu RiverThe search and rescue operation is underway in the Machchhu riverAccording to the information received from the district administration one or two people are still missing We are carrying out search operation along with other agencies 5 teams of NDRF are working here Prasanna Kumar NDRF commandant said todayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever