Around 4.10 pm on May 13, due to unexpected rain and a dust storm, the 120×120-foot hoarding collapsed on a Bharat Petroleum pump on the Eastern Express Highway in Ghatkopar

Because  of the sudden change in weather, motorists and bikers had taken shelter at the pump. Around 30 cars and trucks had queued at the station for refuelling purposes. 

As per the fire brigade and police, about 120-130 people got trapped under the hoarding. The final death toll was recorded to be 17. 

Among the deaseced, was Manoj Chansoria, a former general manager of Mumbai’s Air Traffic Control, and his wife Anita who were found a day later trapped in their car at the site of the accident. 

Bhavesh Bhinde, director of advertising firm Ego Media Pvt Ltd. to which owned the illegal hoarding, was arrested on May 16 in connection with the collapse. BMC engineer Sunil Dalvi was also arrested later. 

Last week on Saturday, two more persons were arrested from Goa. They have been identified as Janhavi Marathe and Sagar Patil, who were associated with Ego Media Private Limited.

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

According to BMC officials, there are 1,225 hoardings in Mumbai. During scrutiny following the collapse, it was found that those cleared by the BMC are legal and within the permissible size of 40 by 40 feet, whereas the 306 hoardings permitted by the GRP and Western and Central Railway are illegal and lack requisite permission.