Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: Biz partner of IPS officer’s wife moves sessions court for pre-arrest bail

MUMBAI: Arshad Khan, a purported business associate of IPS officer Quaiser Khalid’s wife, and a key figure in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse of May 13, in which 17 people died and 74 were injured, has approached the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail.
Additional sessions judge VM Pathade posted the matter for orders on August 12. Arshad Khan, a Govandi-based business associate of IPS officer Quaiser Khalid’s wife Summana was allegedly involved in various financial transactions with Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the company responsible for putting up the 140×120 feet billboard in 2022. The hoarding size had gone beyond the permissible limit of 40×40 feet, as mandated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Khan is alleged to have received cheques amounting to ₹46.5 lakh from Ego Media, the company that installed the hoarding. Khalid was the then commissioner of Government Railway police who allegedly gave permission to set up the hoarding on the GRP land.
The Special Investigation team in charge of the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse sought Khan’s custodial interrogation on Monday. Khan had subsequently filed an anticipatory bail plea through his lawyer the same day. The SIT team sought to investigate the ‘money transactions’, worth ₹46.5 lakhs to ten different bank accounts between 2021 and 2022, which was allegedly received by Khan.
According to the prosecution, as permission for the collapsed hoarding was obtained by Ego Media, the company’s bank account revealed that money was sent to different bank accounts. Upon inquiry, the account holders alleged that the money was withdrawn in cash and given to Khan. Requesting the court to reject the anticipatory bail plea, the prosecution submitted that it was necessary to investigate Khan’s involvement in the criminal conspiracy and to whom he sent the money as well.
In his plea, Khan submitted that he was roped in as an accused, and facing apprehension of arrest, he approached the court to quash and set aside the crime. A notice was served to Kahn by the Pant Nagar police on 21 July. Further, requesting anticipatory bail, Khan stated that the investigation is almost completed, and he was not named in the FIR, adding that he was also not named in the chargesheet.
Khan’s name came up during the questioning of Ego Media’s former director Jahanvi Marathe who revealed in her statement that the company had issued several blank cheques to Khan in 2021 and 2022 when Khalid gave them the approval to install the hoardings, without calling for tenders. Khan allegedly convinced 12 people in Govandi to allow him to use their bank accounts to deposit cheques, which he subsequently withdrew over time, as per the 3,299-page chargesheet filed by the crime branch in July.
So far, the SIT has arrested four people, including Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of Ego Media, Janhavi Marathe, the former director of Ego Media, Manoj Ramkrishna Sanghu, a BMC-approved engineer who provided a safety certificate for the structure, and Sagar Kumbhar, the contractor who erected the hoarding. Out of the four, two are out on bail.