Arshad Khan: Chargesheet raises suspicion over role of IPS officer, says court

The police had claimed that Ego Media Pvt Ltd, which constructed the hoarding, had paid Khan through 36 cheques in various transactions, for acquiring permissions for increasing the size of the hoarding illegally. Khan was a co-director in a company, where Khalid’s wife was also a director. The hoarding at a petrol pump in Ghatkopar had collapsed after unseasonal rainfall on May 13, 2024, causing 17 deaths.

“It appears from the documents on record that the original tender floated by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in 2020 was for hoarding measuring 40×40 feet and one of the conditions of the tender was to obtain permission from the BMC for the hoarding. The tender was allotted to Ego Media Pvt Ltd and apparently the company had agreed to those tender conditions. However, it appears that after the transfer of the then commissioner…when Mr Khalid took charge as commissioner… the documents were procured in order to show that the plot of the land belonged to the Railway and not to the state government so as to dispense with the limit on the size of the hoarding as well as the requirement of the permission of BMC for the hoarding,” the court said.

The hoarding was constructed measuring 120×120 feet, violating the civic body, BMC’s regulations.

The court also said that the chargesheet mentions that Ego Media’s Bhavesh Bhinde and Janhavi Marathe, who were granted bail earlier, had issued cheques to Khan ‘at the instance of Khalid’. It referred to a statement by a law officer attached to the GRP commissionerate, stating that a draft was prepared by him which said that the BMC’s permission would be required to construct the hoarding, but Khalid had instructed him to change the draft.

The court said that while four others were granted bail earlier, the investigation against them is complete, while Khan’s role is still being probed. The court also said that the accused had the knowledge that there would be disastrous consequences if such a huge structure collapses due to defective and substandard quality of construction, as it collapsed within a year.