Ghatkopar Hoarding collapse: Court grants bail to bizman Arshad Khan

Khan is a purported business partner of Khalid’s wife and his name came up during the questioning of Jahnavi Marathe, former director of Ego Media

Mumbai: Businessman Arshad Khan, the fifth accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident dated May 13, 2024 which left 17 persons dead, was on Thursday granted bail by the sessions court. An earlier bail plea moved by Khan – who allegedly received ₹84 lakh for working as a mediator between Ego Media, which owned the hoarding, and Quaiser Khalid, under whose tenure as Railway Police Commissioner permission for erecting the hoarding was granted – had been rejected by the same court in January this year.

17 persons were killed in the hoarding collapse incident dated May 13, 2024 (PTI)

“The court’s decision to grant bail to Arshad Khan is a testament to the integrity of our judicial system and the principle that justice must be rooted in clear, substantiated evidence. Throughout this case, I have maintained that that Arshad’s involvement was unjustly alleged, lacking concrete proof linking him to the tragic incident,” the businessman’s lawyer, Sana Raees Khan, told Hindustan Times.

Khan is a purported business partner of Khalid’s wife and his name came up during the questioning of Jahnavi Marathe, former director of Ego Media, who claimed that the company had issued several blank cheques to him in 2021-22 following Khalid’s approval.

As per the chargesheet filed by Mumbai crime branch last month, Khan used the bank accounts of his wife, brother in-law, nephew and neighbours to encash cheques worth ₹84 lakh from Ego Media.

In his bail plea, Khan claimed that he was not a beneficiary of any amount and the accounts to which ₹84 lakh was transferred by Ego Media did not belong to him.

“These different amounts reflecting in the bank statements of different witnesses testify that they were for different purposes altogether, such as purchase of medical equipment, electrical equipment etc. These purposes have no relation to the alleged hoarding that collapsed,” advocate Sana Khan argued in court.

In the bail plea, Khan had also alleged that while none of the Government Railway Police (GRP) commissioners were named as accused in the case, he was made a scapegoat due to political pressure.

While rejecting his bail plea in January, the sessions court had observed that there was prima facie complicity of Khan in the alleged transaction. Apart from him, police had arrested four others accused in the case – directors of Ego Media, Janhavi Marathe and Bhavesh Bhinde, structural engineer Manoj Sanghu, and contractor Sagar Kumbhar – who are all out on bail.