Railway cops, civic officials may have turned blind eye to illegalities: Mumbai Hoarding collapse chargesheet

Mumbai: The Mumbai police's chargesheet in the May 13 Ghatkopar hoarding collapse claimed railway police and civic personnel, the structural engineer and the firm that erected the structure may have turned a blind eye to illegalities, with officials saying on Monday that scope had been kept open for a more in depth probe.

Seventeen persons were killed and more than 80 injured after a massive hoarding near a petrol pump in Ghatkopar collapsed on May 13 amid gusty winds and a dust storm.

The chargesheet, which was submitted in court last week, includes views of the premier VJTI, as well as IMD about the ill-fated structure being of sub standard quality and not having the capability to withstand winds, an official said.

Soil testing done ahead of erecting the structure ascertained that piling was to be done five times but the advertising firm did not bother to check that substandard material was used for construction of the foundation, he said.

The company did not prepare the design of the structure, which was supposed to protect human lives, and the huge hoarding collapsed within 15 seconds of gusty winds, the official said quoting the report.

"The Mumbai police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) has kept open the scope of in depth investigation with regards to officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation government railway police (GRP). We are probing the role of those officials," he said.

He said Bhavesh Bhinde, owner of Ego Media Private Limited, which erected the hoarding, had called the structural engineer on the day of the incident and asked him for copies of the structure's stability certificate in order to protect himself.

The chargesheet contains the statement of then Mumbai railway police commissioner Quaiser Khalid, who was suspended by the state government for administrative lapses and irregularities in sanctioning the hoarding on his own without approval from the DGP office.

As per Khalid's statement, since the DGP office had given permission to BPCL to set up a fuel pump on railway police land, he assumed the hoarding was part of the petrol pump.

BPCL has hoardings at all its fuel pumps, due to which Khalid made this assumption, the official said quoting the suspended IPS officer's statement.

Khalid claimed the permission given to the hoarding resulted in a sufficient amount coming into the police welfare fund, he said.

The suspended IPS officer, in his statement, claimed the sanction to increase the size was given since there was a flyover at the site and it was imperative motorists travelling on it managed to see the hoarding, the official said.

The original permission was to have a hoarding measuring 40 by 40 feet but its view was being blocked due to the flyover, he said quoting Khalid's statement.