Mumbai hoarding collapse case: Two persons held from Goa, arrests rise to four

The hoarding in Ghatkopar had collapsed on a petrol pump. File Pic/Sameer Markande

Two more persons were arrested from Goa on Saturday in connection with the May 13 hoarding collapse in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area, which resulted in 17 deaths, a police official said, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the Mumbai Crime Branch official identified the two arrested persons as Janhavi Marathe and Sagar Patil, who were associated with Ego Media Private Limited, which erected the hoarding. With these arrests, the number of people held in the case stands at four.

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Janhavi Marathe was a director with the firm till December last year and had allegedly received financial benefits in connection with the ill-fated hoarding, while Patil was held after a probe showed he was the contractor who erected the structure, the official said, as per the PTI.

Sagar Patil is also associated with Ego Media Private Limited, whose director Bhavesh Bhinde was named as the main accused and arrested earlier along with structural engineer Manoj Sanghu, who provided the stability certificate to the hoarding allegedly without detailed inspection, the official added.

Bhavesh Bhinde, who was held from Udaipur in Rajasthan, has been in the outdoor media business since 1998 and has been fined at least 100 times by the civic body for alleged irregularities, as per police, the news agency reported.

Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: Engineer remanded in Crime Branch custody

On Friday, the SIT presented BMC-approved structural engineer Manoj Sanghu before the esplanade court, which remanded him in the Crime Branch's custody until June 5, reported the PTI.

The Crime Branch stated that he issued a structural certificate for the Ghatkopar hoarding despite knowing its size was larger than what was mandated by the BMC. It is also investigating whether he issued the structural certificate on someone else's instructions.

Meanwhile, Janhavi Marathe, former director of Ego Media, who had applied for anticipatory bail before the sessions court, had her request rejected.

According to the PTI, the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse killed 17 people, including the previous general manager of Mumbai Airport ATC and his spouse. Bhinde is accused of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

(with PTI inputs)