Panel report on Ghatkopar hoarding tragedy points to criminal conspiracy

Mumbai: A high-level committee headed by former chief justice of the Allahabad high court Dilip Bhosale appointed to probe the Ghatkopar hoarding tragedy, has pointed to a criminal conspiracy involving suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, BMC official Sunil Dalvi, and Ego Media directors Bhavesh Bhinde and Janhavi Marathe, along with businessman Mohammed Arshad Khan.The committee's report, tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday, states: "The sequence of events not only points the needle of suspicion towards a criminal conspiracy hatched between Mr Khalid, Mr Bhinde, Ms Marathe, Mr Dalvi and Mr Arshad Khan, in order to perpetrate illegalities and circumvent the BMC regulations, but it also seems that they have actually committed illegalities, which untimely led to loss of 17 lives in the incident on May 13, 2024."The report concludes the land where the hoardings were erected was partly owned by the govt of Maharashtra for railway police use and partly by the Police Welfare Corporation. However, it was wrongly classified as "railway property" under Railways Act, 1989. This was used to bypass BMC regulations, which do not allow hoardings larger than 40×40 ft. Originally, a railway police e-tender had granted three hoardings, each 40×40 ft back-to-back (3x1600x2 or 9,600 sqft) for 10 years to Ego Media. However, after Khalid became commissioner of railway police, he expanded the three hoardings to a total frontage of 38,400 sq ft, extended their operational period from 10 to 30 years, and approved a fourth hoarding measuring 120×140 ft back-to-back (16,800×3 or 33,600 sq ft), the report said. Khalid did this, "unilaterally and without issuing fresh tenders or taking permission from the DGP office", the report stated.The report also points out Khalid refused permission to a competitor without inviting their bid. "He refused the request of Qicom to install the additional hoarding without even inviting their commercial proposal and gave this right to Ego Media without any tender process or DGP approval," the report said. "All this was done despite opposition from BMC and BPCL and on the back of legal opinions which sought to mischaracterise the land as Railway," the report said. The hoarding had collapsed on the canopy of a BPCL petrol pump in Ghatkopar.The committee pointed out the hoarding collapse was avoidable, relying on reports from VJTI and Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The VJTI report stated if the specifications had been followed, the hoarding would have been able to withstand a higher wind force. The PNGRB report stated if the petrol pump had complied with rules, there would have been less people on its premises.The report stated the probe also uncovered financial irregularities and that Mohammed Arshad Khan, a long-time associate of Ego Media director Bhavesh Bhinde, reportedly handed over blank cheques of Rs 84 lakh from Ego Media. These were deposited in multiple accounts and converted into cash which was allegedly handed over to Khalid.The report stated Sunil Dalvi, then BMC senior inspector (Licence), N ward, stayed in touch with Bhinde during hoarding construction and sanctioned an unsecured loan of Rs 45 lakh to Bhinde and Marathe, directors of Ego Media. It says that this shows Dalvi had some connection with them and was incentivised to look the other way when the illegal hoarding was being erected.