Ghatkopar Hoarding Collapse: Mumbai Police File 3,299-Page Chargesheet

The Mumbai Police have filed a 3,299-page chargesheet at the Esplanade magistrate court against four individuals accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse.
The chargesheet contains statements from over 100 witnesses, including suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, who was the GRP commissioner at the time, and the current GRP commissioner, senior IPS officer Ravindra Shisve, an official said.

The case was investigated by a special investigation team from the crime branch. The chargesheet also includes statements from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, as well as a mason and a ready-mix concrete supplier involved in the hoarding’s erection, the official said.

On May 13, an oversized advertisement hoarding, illegally erected on GRP land in Ghatkopar (East), crashed into a petrol pump, resulting in the deaths of seventeen people and injuries to eighty-four others.

Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media, the firm responsible for installing the hoarding, is the main accused in the case. While the investigation is still ongoing, no one has been shown as a wanted accused, the official added.

Following the incident, the Maharashtra government suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, who was serving as additional Director General of Police, for alleged administrative lapses and irregularities in sanctioning the hoarding’s construction without the approval of the Director General of Police.

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