Mumbai Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: Mumbai police arrests billboard owner Bhavesh Bhinde
Mumbai Ghatkopar hoarding collapse : The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the advertising agency that owns the billboard that collapsed in Ghatkopar on May 13, killing 16 people and injuring 74 others.
The death toll in the Mumbai hoarding collapse incident in Ghatkopar jumped to 16 after two more bodies were retrieved from a trapped car under the billboard, an NDRF official told news agency PTI. The official said, “The bodies of a male and a female were retrieved from the car struck below the hoarding in Chheda Nagar area shortly after midnight.”
An absconding director of the advertising firm which installed the Mumbai Ghatkopar hoarding collapse was arrested on Thursday from Rajasthan, while the death toll in the crash mounted to 16 after bodies of a former GM of Mumbai airport ATC and his wife were retrieved from the wreckage, officials said. Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the advertising agency behind the massive billboard that crashed onto a petrol pump in suburban Ghatkopar on Monday evening during sudden dusty winds and unseasonal rains, was arrested from Udaipur, a police official said.Bhinde’s company had set up the 120×120-foot advertising hoarding in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar East, which collapsed after being hit by a short spell of unseasonal rain and gusty winds on May 13. The massive billboard fell on a busy petrol pump, trapping close to 100 people under it, 16 of whom have died.
Mumbai Ghatkopar hoarding collapse the Bhinde’s company had set up the 120×120-foot advertising hoarding in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar East, which collapsed after being hit by a short spell of unseasonal rain and gusty winds on May 13. The massive billboard fell on a busy petrol pump, trapping close to 100 people under it, 16 of whom have died.
A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said the bodies of Chansoria and his wife were in a decomposed state and taken to the nearby civic-run Rajawadi Hospital around 1 am.On Tuesday night, Chansoria’s mobile phone location was tracked to the petrol pump on which the hoarding had collapsed a day earlier. It is believed Chansoria had stopped at the petrol pump for refuelling his car when the billboard crashed.
Mumbai Ghatkopar hoarding collapse which defied the permissible size of 40×40 feet, was erected on a 10-year lease. The company had applied to the Limca Book of Records to declare it as the largest commercial hoarding in India.
Mumbai Ghatkopar hoarding collapse Following the incident on Monday, the Pant Nagar police booked Bhinde under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
More than 10 police teams from Mumbai and Gujarat were formed to trace Bhinde, who had fled from the city. Notably, two other cases have also been registered against Bhinde in Mulund — for rape and molestation, and cheating. A woman in his office registered the rape and molestation case against him in January this year. Bhinde managed to get an anticipatory bail from the Bombay high court and was therefore not arrested by the Mulund police, . The second case was registered in the same police station in 2016.Apart from these, there are 21 cases of fines against him under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, filed before 2009. Bhinde had contested assembly election as an independent candidate Mulund constituency in 2009.