17 May,2024 05:43 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Bhavesh Bhinde (in black t-shirt) in police custody on Thursday. Pic/Police sources
A Mumbai court on Friday remanded Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of the huge billboard, arrested in connection with the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse in police custody till May 26.
Bhavesh Bhinde was on Thursday arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch from Udaipur in Rajasthan.
M/S Ego Media Pvt Ltd, his advertising firm, managed the giant hoarding that collapsed on a petrol pump during a dust storm on May 13.
As Bhinde absconded after the incident, police registered a case against him for alleged 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder' under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code, reported the PTI.
After his arrest, crime branch of Mumbai police produced Bhinde before additional chief metropolitan magistrate (Esplanade court) K S Zanwar and sought his custody for 14 days, as per the PTI.
His agency managed three or four more hoardings, and a thorough investigation was needed in the matter, police said.
Rs five crore is required to manage one hoarding, and it needed to probe financial aspects of Bhinde's business, besides finding out who gave the certificate for structural stability and permissions for installation, it said.
Advocate Rizwan Merchant, appearing for the accused, claimed that police did not tell Bhinde the grounds of his arrest which made the remand plea invalid.
Bhinde became director of the firm in December 2023 while the contract for the ill-fated hoarding was given to Ego Media in November 2022, hence he was not responsible for what happened at that point of time, the lawyer argued.
The court, after hearing both the sides, sent the accused in police custody till May 26.
As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it had not granted permission for the hoarding.
The 120 feet x 120 feet 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.
After the tragedy, a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the IPC was registered at the Pant Nagar Police Station against Bhinde, all directors of the advertising agency Ego Media, its officials and employees, officials had said earlier.
(with PTI inputs)
