Mumbai:

An excavator operator had warned that the place in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar where a 120 ft x120 ft hoarding was being planned had soft soil, but this was ignored. Sixteen months later, the massive billboard came crashing down during a storm, killing 17 people and injuring 74 others.

In its 3,299-page chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court, the Special Investigation Team of Mumbai Crime Branch has also pointed to the alleged collusion of top officials in Government Railway Police (GRP), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Ego Media Private Limited that set the stage for the May 13 tragedy.

According to the chargesheet, an excavator was at work to set up the huge billboard when a tree fell. The operator sensed soft soil and recommended a soil check so that building plans can be accordingly tweaked to ensure stability of the huge structure. This check would have taken 15 days.

But Ego Media director Bhavesh Bhinde and former director Jahnavi Marathe were in no mood to wait. They ignored the warning and proceeded without a soil check, the chargesheet has said. This alleged negligence, police have said, can be considered one of the reasons behind the illegal billboard crashing during the storm. The excavator operator is among more than 100 witnesses whose statements feature in the police chargesheet.

The chargesheet also raises serious allegations against IPS officer Quaiser Khalid — Khalid is former GRP Commissioner and approval for the hoarding was granted during his tenure — and BMC licence inspector Sunil Dalvi. The plot where the hoarding came up was leased to the GRP, and Khalid allegedly used gaps in law to award the hoarding to Ego Media without a tender process. He has now been suspended. Dalvi, on the other hand, issued a notice to Ego Media over the illegal hoarding, but withdrew it later. His continued contact with Bhinde raised questions.

The chilling crash of the hoarding, which was so big that it made it to the Limca Book of Records, put the spotlight on how rules were being bent and public safety ignored while granting approval to illegal hoardings in the Maximum City. According to rules, the maximum size of hoardings is 40 ft x 40 ft, but the Ghatkopar billboard was thrice the size.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has told the assembly that there are a total of 1,025 hoardings in BMC areas and none of them are illegal. He has said hoardings at Railway authority’s land are not erected after taking permission from BMC. According to a BMC survey, 99 out of 306 hoardings at Railway authority’s land in Mumbai are bigger than the maximum permitted size.

New Delhi:

At the heart of the tragic billboard collapse in Mumbai, which claimed 16 lives, was an advertising agency, Ego Media Pvt Ltd, that had installed the fateful structure. The owner of the company, Bhavesh Bhinde, managed to evade police for 3 days, but was finally arrested from Udaipur.

He was arrested after an extensive manhunt spanning three states.

The collapse of the 120 feet by 120 feet billboard claimed the lives of 16 and left 75 others injured. The catastrophic incident, which occurred amidst strong winds and unseasonal rains, prompted swift action from law enforcement agencies.

Video | 16 Seconds Of Horror, When Mumbai Billboard Crushed Petrol Pump

https://t.co/FM129UZb0epic.twitter.com/NYWMcu981X

— NDTV (@ndtv) May 16, 2024

Following his realization that the police were closing in on him, Bhavesh Bhinde fled, setting off a pursuit that led through various cities. To evade capture, he kept changing his location and assumed a false identity.

His flight led authorities to Lonavala, Thane, and Ahmedabad before finally ending in Udaipur, where he was found hiding in a hotel under an assumed name. He would be in a new city every time the cops closed in on him, and Mumbai Police had to deploy eight teams, which worked round the clock, to track Bhinde.

The team revealed that Bhavesh Bhinde, upon learning of the impending police action, initially fled to Lonavala before returning to Mumbai the next day. Subsequently, he traveled to Thane, but continued his elusive journey to Ahmedabad, ultimately seeking refuge in a hotel in Udaipur, where he was finally nabbed by the Crime Branch.

He was finally caught after the investigation team utilised a combination of technical expertise and human intelligence.

The Udaipur operation was so discreet that even the local police were not informed that a team was in town to catch Bhinde.

“The operation was a top secret, and even the Udaipur police did not know about it,” said an official on the investigating team.

The hoarding collapsed onto a nearby petrol pump in the Chhedanagar area in Ghatkopar during gusty winds and heavy unseasonal rains, killing 16 people and injuring 75 others.

This incident has highlighted severe lapses in the regulatory oversight of advertising installations in Mumbai, sparking calls for stricter enforcement of safety standards.

Mumbai:

Bhavesh Bhinde, a businessman whose company was responsible for installing the billboard that collapsed in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar, was arrested from Rajasthan’s Udaipur last night and was brought to Mumbai this morning where he will be presented in a court. 

Mr Bhinde, the owner of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, was arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch after a massive manhunt. 

The catastrophic incident occurred on Monday evening when a 120 feet by 120 feet billboard crashed onto a nearby petrol pump amid gusty winds and unseasonal rains, resulting in the deaths of 16 people and injuries to 75 others. Following the incident, Bhinde fled Mumbai in a car with his driver.

A total of eight teams from the Mumbai Police were dispatched to various locations to locate Bhinde who was finally tracked down in Udaipur Thursday evening, three days after the hoarding collapse. 

According to the police, after going to Lonavala, Bhinde returned to Mumbai the next day. From there, he went to Thane, then to Ahmedabad, and after changing locations several times, he changed his name and hid in a hotel in Udaipur. Joint CP Crime Lakhmi Gautam, overseeing the investigation, dispatched a Mumbai Police Crime Branch team to Udaipur where they tracked him down and took him into custody.

The search and rescue operation at the collapse site concluded at 10 am on Thursday, as confirmed by an official from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). The illegal billboard had been installed on land under the possession of the Government Railway Police (GRP).

This incident has highlighted severe lapses in the regulatory oversight of advertising installations in Mumbai, sparking calls for stricter enforcement of safety standards.