Morbi Municipal Corporation Chief Officer Sandipsinh Zala was suspended on Friday, November 4, a day after being interrogated by the police for more than four hours regarding the breakdown of a British-era cable bridge, which killed at least 135 people on the Machchhu river in Morbi town of Gujarat on October 30.

Nine people linked to the incident have been taken into police custody so far, including two managers of Oreva Group, who had been tasked with renovating the bridge, and two sub-contractors. They have been arrested and booked under Indian Penal Code section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in connection with the tragic incident.

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Prosecutor HS Panchal told the court citing the forensic lab report that the flooring of the bridge was replaced but the company failed to replace the cable and as a result, it could not take the weight of the changed flooring. Panchal also told the court that the repairing contractors were “not qualified” to carry out such work.

“Despite that, these contractors were given repair work on the bridge in 2007 and then in 2022. So the accused’s custody was needed to find out what was the reason for choosing them and at whose instance they were chosen,” the prosecutor said, PTI reported.  

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Who is Sandipsinh Zala?

Sandipsinh Zala was questioned by the police regarding the bridge crash and asked to explain the agreement signed with the Oreva Group, the Gujarat-based watchmaker, to renovate the bridge.

He was also asked whether the civic body had determined during the signing of the agreement with Oreva, how many people the old bridge can hold without compromising its safety.

“A one-page contract was signed between Oreva and the contractor company, awarding Rs 29 lakh for the bridge repair and with no specification on a standard operating procedure for the work or the works that are required to be completed,” Morbi Deputy Superintendent of Police PA Zala said. 

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On Tuesday, the Morbi Police told a local court that many of the cables of the bridge were rusty and the accident could have been avoided if they were replaced.

“No documentation of what work and how it was done has been maintained,” PA Zala added. “The material procured/used, if its quality was checked, remains to be probed.”