Ghatkopar hoarding collapse | Complaints against hoarding not shown to me: Railway commissioner in chargesheet

While permission for the illegal hoarding was given when Quaiser Khalid was GRP Commissioner, the hoardings—whose sizes were beyond permissible limits—continued to stand even after Shisve took over as Commissioner of Railways.

During the probe, the police found that atleast four written complaints had been sent to GRP but no action was taken. As part of its probe, police recorded the statement of Shisve where he was asked about the complaints and if any action was taken.

“In his statement, he said the complaints were not put up before him by his juniors and hence he was not aware about the illegality of these hoardings,” an SIT official said. Khalid, in his statement too, had claimed that he was unaware of objections against the hoardings and was doing it for police welfare.

The statements of Shisve and Khalid were part of the 3,299-page chargesheet that was filed by the SIT on Friday. The Mumbai police has recorded the statements of over 100 persons in connection with the case. The chargesheet was filed against four persons linked to the hoarding.

The four arrested accused include Jahnvi Marathe and Bhavesh Bhinde—the former and current owners of Ego Media company which owned the 140X120 feet hoarding, Manoj Sanghu who gave the structural safety certificate and Sagar Patil, who oversaw the construction of the hoarding.

The chargesheet said the railway police and civic personnel, the structural engineer and the firm that erected the structure may have turned a blind eye to illegalities.

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, said an official.

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.

The chargesheet 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.

-With inputs from PTI