Mumbai Hoarding Tragedy: Owner Already Facing Charges Of Rape, Illegal Banners, Now Booked For Culpable Homicide

The owner of the illegal hoarding, that collapsed onto a petrol pump due to gusty winds and rain in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area on Monday (13 May), resulting in 14 deaths, had been booked in a rape case by the Mumbai police earlier this year as per a report by The Indian Express.

The Pant Nagar police, who have jurisdiction over the area where the hoarding collapse occurred has registered a First Information Report (FIR) on Monday night against Bhavesh Prabhudas Bhinde, 51, director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, which held the hoarding contract on a 10-year lease.

According to the same report, Bhinde was charged with rape and molestation at the Mulund police station on 24 January this year.

The Bombay High Court later granted him anticipatory bail. “A rape case was registered against him, and a chargesheet has already been filed,” said Ajay Joshi, Senior Inspector of Mulund Police Station.

Bhinde, who ran as an Independent candidate in the 2009 Maharashtra Assembly elections, had declared 21 fines under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act for unauthorised banners and two offences related to the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act, typically involving cheque bouncing.

In the latest FIR registered at the Pant Nagar police station on Monday night regarding the hoarding collapse, Bhinde was charged under sections 304 (culpable homicide), 338 (causing grievous hurt), 337 (causing hurt by negligent act), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Ghatkopar hoarding, located next to a petrol pump on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), measured 120 x 120 feet, far exceeding the permitted size of 40 x 40 feet.

On Monday, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Bhushan Gagrani stated that the Ghatkopar hoarding was illegal as the civic body had not granted permission for its erection.

“The location where the incident occurred has four hoardings on Railway land, one of which collapsed. The BMC had been objecting to these hoardings for a year,” said Gagrani.