Ghatkopar hoarding collapse accused denies receiving money from advt firm

Arshad Khan, an accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident of May 14, 2024, which claimed the lives of 17 people and injured several others, has claimed that he was not a beneficiary of any amount involved in the case.

Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case:

Mumbai: Rescue and relief work underway near the site of the hoarding collapse at Ghatkopar, in Mumbai, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. At least 14 persons were killed and 76 others injured on Monday night when a 100-foot tall illegal billboard fell on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai. (PTI Photo) (PTI05_14_2024_000163A) (PTI)

MUMBAI: Arshad Khan, an accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident of May 14, 2024, which claimed the lives of 17 people and injured several others, has claimed that he was not a beneficiary of any amount involved in the case. Through his bail plea filed before the sessions court on Friday, Khan claimed that the accounts to which ₹84 lakh was transferred by the firm, Ego Media and Gujju Ads, did not belong to him.

This is the second bail application filed by Khan, after the previous plea was rejected on January 22 this year.

According to the police, Quaisar Khalid, the then railway police commissioner, gave Ego Media the approval to install the hoarding along the Eastern Express Highway at Ghatkopar without calling for tenders.

Khan’s name came up during the questioning of Jahnavi Marathe, the former director of Ego Media, who revealed that the company had issued several blank cheques to Khan in 2021 and 2022 after Khalid gave them the approval to install the hoardings.

As per the prosecution, Khan had allegedly acted as a mediator between the director of Ego Media and the police commissioner.

Khan alleged that he was neither an employee nor a contractor of Ego Media, which constructed the oversized hoarding. The plea, filed through advocate Sana Raees Khan, said that the FIR was filed to control the public sentiment by making Khan a scapegoat because of political pressure due to Lok Sabha elections.

According to police, Khan used the bank accounts of his wife, brother in-law, nephew and neighbours to encash cheques worth ₹84 lakh from Ego Media. Apart from family members, he convinced a dozen people from Govandi, where he lived, to allow him to deposit some cheques and withdraw the money in lieu of a commission.

However, the prosecution does not have any documentary evidence to prove that money was withdrawn at the instance of Khan, observed the plea. “The hoarding came into existence in November 2023 and there is no cogent evidence to connect the transactions of 2021 to the hoarding that collapsed due to natural calamity,” said the plea.

The investigating agency has not made any of the commissioners as accused in the crime, alleged Khan, adding that it makes the investigation baseless. The incident took place due to the act of God, which was completely beyond human control, said the bail plea.

In the supplementary charge sheet filed by the crime branch against Khan, the police had observed that he failed to submit any authentic documents to account for the ₹84 lakh he received from Ego Media. While rejecting the first bail plea of Khan, the court had observed that there was prima facie complicity of Khan in the alleged transaction between Ego Media and Khalid.

Apart from Khan, the police had arrested four others – the directors of Ego Media, Janhavi Marathe and Bhavesh Bhinde, structural engineer Manoj Sanghu, and contractor Sagar Kumbhar. They were granted bail by the same court earlier.