"Crime Branch Takes Over: Bhinde in Custody After Hoarding Collapse"

The investigation into the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident has been transferred to the crime branch of Mumbai Police, an official said on Friday.Earlier in the day, accused Bhavesh Bhinde, director of the Ego Media advertising agency which had erected the hoarding that collapsed on a petrol pump on Monday evening and claimed 16 lives, was sent in police custody till May 26 by a local court.

The investigation into the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident has been transferred to the crime branch of Mumbai Police, an official said on Friday.

Earlier in the day, accused Bhavesh Bhinde, director of the Ego Media advertising agency which had erected the hoarding that collapsed on a petrol pump on Monday evening and claimed 16 lives, was sent in police custody till May 26 by a local court. The probe was transferred to the crime branch considering its scope, a senior police official told PTI.

Bhinde, booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under IPC section 304, was arrested in Jaipur on Thursday.

As per the investigation, he fled the city on the night of the incident (May 13), and went to Lonavala by car with a driver.

On May 14, he went to Panvel, from where he travelled to Ahmedabad by train. A police team sent to Ahmedabad found that the accused had left for Udaipur. Bhinde was then tracked to a hotel in the Rajasthan city where he had booked a room in the name of his nephew, Bhavin Pujara.

The crime branch team recovered five mobile phones and six SIM cards from his possession. Ego Media Pvt Ltd had not obtained permission from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to erect the hoarding on Government Railway Police (GRP) land, the police official said.

Also, the firm did not conduct a structural audit of the place before installing the hoarding, and used substandard material for the work, he said. Meanwhile, a report prepared by the Director General of GRP about the hoarding collapse incident was forwarded to the Maharashtra home department on Thursday, officials said.

The report mentions that permission was given to the then GRP commissioner for the installation of three hoardings after a due tender process, but there was no permission to erect a fourth hoarding.

A tender was issued for three hoardings in 2021, but the contract was given to the same winner (advertising company) for the fourth hoarding on the basis of the deposit it had already paid, the official said.

Lapses and negligence on the part of GRP have also been highlighted in the report, he said.

Another official said that the current GRP commissioner had written more than two letters informing about the hoardings to the higher authorities. While sending Bhinde in police custody, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (Esplanade court) K S Zanwar noted that the incident was ''against humanity'' as innocent people lost their lives.

If the accused was not responsible for the act, then why did he flee from Mumbai after the incident as his presence would have facilitated the probe into the matter, the court asked in the remand order.

Bhinde's lawyer opposed his arrest, saying that the strong winds that led to the collapse was an ''act of god'' and it was not under his client's control.

Bhinde became the 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 cannot be held responsible for what happened at that point of time, the lawyer argued.

On the charges of section 304 (doing any rash or negligent act), the lawyer of the accused said that he has been booked due to ''public outcry'' and ''election fever''.

''On that day, the velocity of wind was 96 kmph and it's not true that only one structure collapsed on that day. There was another structure that collapsed in the Wadala area. They have not applied for (section) 304 there,'' the lawyer argued.

''Velocity of the wind is not in my control...It is an act of god. It is absolutely insane to say that I had knowledge that there will be wind of that velocity on that day,'' he argued.

Responding to Bhinde's contention, the court said that whether he was director or responsible person (of the firm) at the time of getting permission is part of the investigation. But at the relevant time, he is the director of Ego Media.

Investigation is at a primary stage and the police did not get ample time to find out the truth. The offence is serious in nature and it is very much necessary to grant the custody of the accused to police, the court said.