Mumbai hoarding crash: 23 criminal cases against owner of ad agency behind illegal hoarding

Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of the advertising agency, Ego Media, which had allegedly put up the hoarding that crashed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar area, has 23 criminal cases registered against him and was recently arrested on rape charges, police said on Tuesday evening.

After Monday's hoarding crash in which at least 14 people died, he has been absconding, while a case under IPC section 304 (causing death by negligence) was registered against him at Pantnagar police station in the city.

In January, Bhinde was arrested in a rape case registered with Mulund police station, but later secured bail, a police official said.

Bhinde, owner of Ego Media, had also contested the Maharashtra assembly elections in 2009, he added.

According to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, another firm of Bhinde's had been blacklisted by the commercial department of the Indian Railways in 2017-18 after several complaints of installing illegal hoardings were filed against it.

Officials of the Government Railway Police (GRP) on Tuesday said the billboard installed on its land at Ghatkopar in Mumbai collapsed even before it could take action against the advertising agency over a complaint that it damaged trees to erect it.

Civic officials have said the billboard was illegal and no permission was taken to install it.

The GRP said, the BMC had last week issued a letter against the advertising company M/s Ego Media Private Limited for complaint of damaging the roadside trees for installing hoardings.

"After receiving the letter from the BMC, the GRP initiated the proceedings against the advertising company. But before any action could be taken against it, the tragic incident took place," the official said in a statement.

The statement issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Admin) of Railway Police said the permission to erect hoardings near the petrol pump on the police land was given to M/s Ego Media Private Limited for a period of 10 years in December 2021 with the approval of the then GRP Commissioner Qaiser Khalid.