Ghatkopar building crash: Court to pass order on bail plea of supervisor on Oct 27

MUMBAI: The

sessions court

on Tuesday adjourned a bail plea filed by Sunil Shitap of Shiv Sena arrested in connection with the July 25

Ghatkopar building crash

in which 17 persons died and 22 were left seriously injured. The court allowed his plea for an adjournment and also allowed families of victims to intervene to oppose his plea.

The

four-storeyed Siddhi Sai

building that had crashed allegedly had unauthorised work being carried out by Shitap who owned three commercial premises on the ground floor, said the police.

Meanwhile, the court heard a bail plea filed by co-accused Anil Mandal, who was a site supervisor, for repair work on the building, and reserved it for orders on October 27.

Aabad Ponda appearing as

Mandal’s lawyer

argued that he was only an employee who earned Rs 7000 a month and that all decisions were taken by his boss, the contractor, also a co-accused in the case and thus he deserves to be released on bail now.

Shitap said he owned the ground floor premises which were let out to a nursing home. Shitap’s contention is that “tenable repair work was in progress at about 9.30am when the building collapsed, on July 25.’’

Shitap also said that in 2015 he had appointed a structural auditor since his requests to appointment one had been ignored for the 37-year-old Ghatkopar, West building. He said that the auditor had suggested "urgent repairs to enhance the life of the building by four more years.”

On September 22 before a magistrate in Vikroli, the police had filed a chargesheet against Shitap and others for a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304-II of Indian Penal Code (IPC) which attracts 10 years' imprisonment.

Several residents including sons and daughters of those who lost their lives in the tragic crash wished to be heard to oppose Shitap’s plea for bail, their advocate Ashish Mehta said. Mehul Dongre, one of intervenors, had lost his parents and also his year-old son in the crash.

The court allowed their intervention application and posted his plea to October 31 for a hearing.