Two more arrested in Ghatkopar billboard collapse case

MUMBAI: The crime branch officials have arrested two more persons in connection with the Ghatkopar billboard collapse in which 17 people were killed and 74 were injured

MUMBAI: The crime branch officials have arrested two more persons in connection with the Ghatkopar billboard collapse in which 17 people were killed and 74 were injured.

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The arrested accused, identified as Janhavi Marathe and Sagar Kumbhar, were hiding in Goa. The woman was earlier director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd – the firm owned by Mulund resident Bhavesh Bhinde that had put up the massive hoarding which collapsed on May 13, whereas Kumbhar is a contractor.

A senior crime branch officer said that after getting information that the two were hiding in Goa, a team was searching for the two and had to scan guests lodged in hundreds of Goan hotels before apprehending the two who were found residing in a hotel in different names.

Bhinde’s Ego Media Pvt Ltd had set up the 120x120-foot advertising hoarding in Pant Nagar in Ghatkopar East, which collapsed after being hit by a short spell of unseasonal rain and gusty winds on May 13. The massive billboard fell on a busy petrol pump, trapping close to 100 people under it, 17 of whom have died.

The Pant Nagar police have registered a case against Bhinde under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Both Marathe and Kumbhar had fled from the city immediately after the 51-year-old Mulund resident was arrested in the case and people started questioning the foundation of the hoarding. Police officials said Marathe was a director in the firm and the police had visited her residence in Thane a number of times but could not find her. They also could not locate Kumbhar who had supervised the foundation and piling work done for the ill-fated hoarding.

The officials said the two kept changing hotels in Goa and used to switch off their mobile phones before shifting to a new location and therefore police faced difficulties in tracing the two. Though they were not named as accused in the FIR, the duo has been arrested and brought to the city.