Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: Second accused sent to police custody till June 5

Sanghu was the second person to be arrested in the case after Bhavesh Bhinde, the proprietor of Ego Media which owned the hoarding

Mumbai: Manoj Ramkrishna Sanghu, an engineer approved by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) who allegedly gave a stability certificate for the oversized Ghatkopar hoarding that collapsed on May 13 killing 17 persons, was remanded on Friday to police custody till June 5. Janhavi Marathe, Ego Media’s director till November 2023 and a wanted accused in the case, was denied anticipatory bail by the sessions court on Friday.

Manoj Ramkrishna Sanghu, an engineer approved by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) who allegedly gave a stability certificate for the oversized Ghatkopar hoarding that collapsed on May 13 killing 17 persons, was remanded on Friday to police custody till June 5. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Sanghu was the second person to be arrested in the case after Bhavesh Bhinde, the proprietor of Ego Media which owned the hoarding. Bhinde was arrested on May 16 and is currently in judicial custody.

On Friday, the Mumbai crime branch’s Special Investigation Team, which is probing the hoarding collapse incident, submitted to the court that they needed to verify Sanghu’s Bachelor of Engineering degree from the concerned university and ascertain the basis on which he was approved as a structural engineer by the BMC, which allowed him to provide stability certificates to private structures.

Sanghu was aware that the Ghatkopar hoarding was larger than the maximum size permitted by the BMC, but had still certified it, said police; the certificate was given on April 24, 2023. The police also need to ascertain if Sanghu had provided stability certificates for 28 other hoardings owned by Ego Media, and how he was compensated for the same, said sources.

The police will also question BMC officials as they had sent a notice to the Mumbai GRP last year seeking payment of property tax for the ill-fated hoarding from 2020 to 2023. “If the BMC sent a notice to the company to collect property tax, why did they not take action against the illegal hoarding,” asked a police officer.

Ego Media had applied for permission to erect three other hoardings on the same plot in Ghatkopar in 2020, following which the Government Railway Police, which owns the land, gave permission for hoardings sized 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. Despite this, Khalid allegedly approved the application in December 2022 before handing over charge to his successor, Ravindra Shisve. SIT recorded the statement of GRP ACP Shahaji Nikam (admin) and learned that the permission was given after the file was approved by Khalid. The crime branch did not clarify if they would inquire with Khalid regarding why the tendering process was not followed for the fourth hoarding.

According to the police, Ego Media was paying ₹13 lakh per month towards rent for the three hoardings (measuring 80x80 feet) and ₹11 lakh per month for the fourth hoarding measuring 120x140 feet.