Mumbai Police File Chargesheet in Ghatkopar Hoarding Crash Case

Over two months after the Ghatkopar hoarding crash that claimed 17 lives, Mumbai police have filed a 3,299-page chargesheet against four accused at the Esplanade magistrate's court. The document includes statements from over 100 witnesses and officials, spotlighting alleged administrative lapses and irregularities.

Nearly two months after the tragedy, Mumbai police on Friday evening filed a 3,299-page chargesheet against four accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding crash case at the Esplanade magistrate's court here.

It contained the statements of more than 100 witnesses including suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, then GRP commissioner, and current GRP commissioner and senior IPS officer Ravindra Shisve, an official said.

The case was probed by a special investigation team of the crime branch.

The chargesheet also has the statements of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials besides a mason and ready-mix concrete supplier involved in the erection of the hoarding, the official said.

Seventeen people were killed and 84 injured after an oversized advertisement hoarding erected illegally on GRP land in Ghatkopar (East) crashed on a petrol pump on May 13 amid a storm.

Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media, the firm that installed the hoarding, is the main accused in the case. While probe is still underway, nobody has been shown as wanted accused in the case, the official said.

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

(With inputs from agencies.)