The accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse, which killed at least 14 people on Monday afternoon, was last traced to Lonavala near Pune on Tuesday after he fled the city apprehending arrest, said the Mumbai police. According to the police, Bhavesh Prabhudas Bhinde, 51, the director of Ego Media Private Limited, which had the contract for the hoarding on a 10-year lease, was not at his house in Mulund when the police team reached. The police traced his last location to Lonavala and sent a team there, but he was not found there either, an officer said. “He switched off his phone following which he has been untraceable. We have deployed seven teams to trace him and should arrest him soon,” added the officer. An officer said they would summon officers from the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to get information about when Bhinde was given the hoarding on lease and what action was taken against him if permission was not granted. The hoarding, measuring 120 x 120 feet against the permitted size of 40 x 40 feet, was situated beside a petrol pump at Pant Nagar on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH). It collapsed at 4.30 pm on Monday after gusty winds and the season’s first spell of rainfall lashed the city. Most of the victims were either refuelling or seeking refuge when the billboard collapsed, and more than 100 people got trapped underneath it. After the hoarding collapse, the Pant Nagar police registered an FIR against Bhinde on Monday night under sections 304 (culpable homicide), 338 (causing grievous hurt), 337 (causing hurt by negligent act), 34 (common intention) Indian Penal Code (IPC). During the probe, the police found that Bhinde had a rape case registered against him earlier this year and a cheating case in 2016 at the Mulund police station. Bhinde contested Assembly elections in 2009 from Mulund and mentioned that he had been fined 21 times for putting up hoarding without permission under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act till 2009.
