Mumbai Police Files Extensive Chargesheet in Ghatkopar Hoarding Crash Case

Nearly two months following the tragic Ghatkopar hoarding crash, Mumbai police filed a comprehensive chargesheet against four accused at the Esplanade magistrate's court. The document includes statements from over 100 witnesses, including officials and contractors involved in the erection of the hoarding, which led to 17 deaths and 84 injuries.

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.

The chargesheet contains statements from more than 100 witnesses, including suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, then Government Railway Police commissioner, and current GRP commissioner and senior IPS officer Ravindra Shisve, according to an official.

The case has been investigated by a special crime branch team. The chargesheet also includes testimonies from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, a mason, and a ready-mix concrete supplier involved in the hoarding's erection.

Seventeen people were killed and 84 injured when an oversized advertisement hoarding, illegally erected on GRP land in Ghatkopar (East), collapsed onto 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 the investigation is ongoing, no one has been listed as a wanted accused, an official stated.

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

(With inputs from agencies.)