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Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case: Have nothing to do with Ego Media, says accused Arshad Khan in bail plea

Jan 21, 2025 07:34 AM IST

Seventeen people were killed and 74 others injured when a hoarding measuring 140x120 ft, well over the permitted size of 40x40 feet, collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar during a squall on May 14 evening

MUMBAI: Arshad Khan, an arrested accused in the May 14, 2024 Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case, has claimed that he had no connection with Ego Media Private Limited, the firm which owned the oversized hoarding, or the government agency which gave the permission to erect the hoarding.

Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case: Have nothing to do with Ego Media, says accused Arshad Khan in bail plea
Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case: Have nothing to do with Ego Media, says accused Arshad Khan in bail plea

In his bail plea filed before the sessions court last week, Khan – who allegedly received several blank cheques from Ego Media in 2021-22 after Quaiser Khalid, then additional director general of police, gave the company the approval to install the hoarding without calling for tenders – claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case owing to political pressure.

Seventeen people were killed and 74 others injured when a hoarding measuring 140x120 ft, well over the permitted size of 40x40 feet, collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar during a squall on May 14 evening. As per the FIR, Khalid approved Ego Media’s application for the oversized hoarding in December 2022 without floating a tender, before he handed over charge to his successor, Ravindra Shisve.

Khan’s name came up during the questioning of Jahnavi Marathe, former director of Ego Media. She claimed that the firm had issued several blank cheques to Khan in 2021-22 when Khalid approved the hoarding.

In the bail plea filed through advocate Sana Raees Khan, Arshad Khan contended that while Shisve received rent for the hoarding from February 2023 till it collapsed in May, the prosecution was unable to prove any link between him and the officer and the chargesheet too revealed no connection between him and the offences. He had no banking transactions with any of the accused or Ego Media and was not a beneficiary of any profits received from the hoarding, the plea stated.

While the prosecution accuses Khan of conniving with the then commissioner of police to obtain permission for the hoarding, Khan contended that the investigation was baseless as none of the commissioners of police had been named as accused.

“The said incident was not of any negligence or mistake on the part of the applicant. It was purely due to an unexpected natural disaster and an ‘act of god’ which was beyond human control,” the plea stated. Section 304(2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code was not applicable against him as he had no intention or knowledge that such an incident would happen, the plea added.

Earlier, in his statement to the police, Khan had alleged that the money received from Ego Media in his family members’ bank accounts were for the supply of medicines to Bhavesh Bhinde, founder and director of Ego Media.

In his plea, Khan also relied on grounds of parity since the court had granted bail to all the four main accused – Janhavi Marathe, Bhavesh Bhinde, structural engineer Manoj Sanghu and contractor Sagar Kumbhar.

“The role of the present applicant is on far better footing than the role of all the four co-accused,” said the plea.

“The applicant humbly submits that the present case is surrounded by political pressure and media trial attempting to blame the applicant for the alleged offence,” observed the plea.

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