Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: 4 charge-sheeted, 102 witness statements recorded

17 people lost their lives and 74 were injured in the hoarding collapse incident.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch on Friday filed a 3299-page charge-sheet against four accused arrested in connection with the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse of May 13, in which 17 people lost their lives and 74 were injured. Cops have recorded statements of 102 witnesses in the case till now.

In the chargesheet filed before the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court, the witnesses cited include two officials of the BMC, six from GRP and five witness statements of the masons and RMC suppliers

Last month, the state government had suspended additional director general of police Quaiser Khalid, during whose tenure as commissioner, Government Railway Police (GRP), the permission was given to erect the 140X120-feet billboard in 2022, breaching the permissible limit of 40x40 feet, stipulated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Police have recorded statements of Khalid as well as current GRP commissioner Ravindra Shishve during the probe. Khalid had given the permission to erect a billboard to the Ego Media Pvt Ltd without issuing tenders, a couple of hours before handing over the charge to Shishve.

Although the hoarding was erected after Shishve took charge, both the BMC and GRP did not take any legal action against Ego Media nor did they order its demolition, said a police official. The Mumbai crime branch’s SIT, which probed the case, said the investigation is still going on against the people involved in the case.

In the chargesheet filed before the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court, the witnesses cited include two officials of the BMC, six from GRP and five witness statements of the masons and RMC suppliers. Apart from that the police have recorded the statement of 90 people who were injured and relatives of the deceased. Some of the forensic evidences are still pending in the case, said a police officer.

The accused named in the charge-sheet include Bhavesh Bhinde, who owns Ego Media and Manoj Ramkrishna Sanghu, a BMC-approved civil engineer, who had issued a stability certificate for the hoarding knowing full well that it had exceeded permissible limits. The other two accused are former director of Ego Media Jahanvi Marathe and Sagar Kumbhar, the contractor who had erected the hoarding.

The investigation revealed that Marathe did not draft any agreement while awarding the contract to Kumbhare to erect the hoarding, but her company paid him ₹1 crore for constructing the foundation and piling work for all the four hoardings erected by Ego Media at Ghatkopar.

Ego Media had applied for permission to erect three more hoardings on the same plot in Ghatkopar in 2020. The permission was granted by the GRP, which owns the land, with the size of the hoardings stipulated at 40x40 feet.

In July 2022, Bhinde allegedly approached GRP commissioner Quaiser Khalid to increase the size of the hoardings to 80x80 feet and the length of the tenure from 10 to 30 years. Bhinde also sought permission for a fourth hoarding for which a tender was not issued. Khalid allegedly approved the application in December 2022 before handing over the charge to his successor, Ravindra Shisve.

The fourth hoarding’s initial size was 120x70 feet which was subsequently increased to 140x120 feet, said another officer. According to the police, Ego Media paid ₹13 lakh rent per month for the three hoardings (measuring 80x80 feet each) and ₹11 lakh per month for the fourth hoarding, which collapsed on May 13.

The disputed plot

The Ghatkopar plot where the hoarding stood was originally owned by MHADA but given to GRP to construct residential quarters. Some of the buildings along the highway had become dilapidated and were pulled down, and the land was transferred for police welfare activity. Instead, a petrol pump operated by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited came up on the plot as did the four hoardings by Ego Media.

Money trail

Business partner of Quaisar Khalid’s wife Summana received at least ₹55 lakh from Ego Media Private Limited which erected the hoarding in violation of the BMC norms.

Accounts of 12 people were used to deposit the ₹55 lakh, which were later withdrawn.

Statements were recorded of Govandi resident Mohd Arshad Khan, who is Summana’s business partner in a company called Mahpara Garments, which specialises in chikankari work.

Khan’s name came up during the questioning of Ego Media’s former director Jahanvi Marathe who revealed in her statement that the company had issued several blank cheques to Khan in 2021 and 2022 when Quaisar Khalid gave them the approval to install the hoardings along the EEH, Ghatkopar, without calling for tenders.

Khan, who has no ostensible connection with Ego Media or the hoarding business, convinced 12 people in Govandi to allow him to use their bank accounts to deposit cheques which amounted to a total of ₹55 lakh and which he subsequently withdrew over time.

More money exchanged hands later, and investigators are yet to establish the chain of transactions.

Khalid’s suspension

Khalid’s suspension follows two adverse reports by DGP Rashmi Shukla and DG, GRP, Dr Pradnya Sarvade. The reports blamed him for sanctioning the hoardings and petrol pump despite objections from Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation. The suspension order said that the state has decided to suspend Quaisar Khalid for administrative lapses and irregularities in sanctioning the hoarding without approval of the DGP office, and by deviating from the approved size norms.