Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: Mumbai police arrests billboard owner Bhavesh Bhinde

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.

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, 14 of whom have died.

The hoarding, 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.

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, although a chargesheet has been filed against him. 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 from Mulund constituency in 2009.