Ghatkopar Hoarding Collapse: Bombay High Court rejects plea against arrest of Ad Agency Director

The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging the arrest of Bhavesh Bhinde, the director of the ad agency responsible for erecting a hoarding in Ghatkopar that collapsed on May 13 leading to the death of 17 people [Bhavesh Bhinde v State of Maharashtra]..A Bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande ruled against Bhinde’s contention that his detention prior to May 17 (the official date of his arrest) was unlawful.The Bench said there was nothing to support Bhinde's claim of illegal detention. ."Finding no legal infirmity in effecting the arrest of the Petitioner in connection with a serious offense registered against him, the grounds raised for claiming his arrest to be illegal, according to us, is nothing, but a faux and ersatz call, as we have noticed that the procedural safeguards which are indispensable and received recognition through the Constitution, which has considered liberty of a citizen to be of a paramount importance, is not impaired in any manner," the judgment said..The incident occurred when a 64x50 meter hoarding, towering at 120 feet, was uprooted by the storm and collapsed onto the Samta Colony Petrol Pump. The fallen structure crushed several vehicles, prompting a 60-hour rescue operation. The tragedy led to a first information report (FIR) being registered at Pant Nagar Police Station under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337, 338, and 427 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Investigation revealed that the hoarding, which was erected by Ego Media Pvt. Ltd., had been installed without the necessary permissions from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and without a structural audit. The company had secured the tender for the hoarding on the Eastern Express Highway in November 2022.Following the FIR, police launched a manhunt for Bhinde, who evaded authorities by fleeing to Udaipur in Rajasthan. He was eventually located at a private hotel in Udaipur on May 16, 2024, where he had checked in under a false identity. Bhinde was arrested and brought back to Mumbai the following day. He was initially placed under police custody for 14 days and later remanded to judicial custody..Bhinde subsequently approached the High Court seeking interim bail and requested the quashing of the first information report (FIR), which accused him of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder.He argued that the arrest procedures under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were not followed and claimed that the hoarding collapse was an "act of God" due to an unforeseen dust storm.He contended that on the day of the collapse, gusty winds had caused widespread damage across Mumbai including the collapse of a multi-storied parking lot in Wadala which had injured three people. Bhinde asserted that the Ghatkopar hoarding had been legally erected with all required permissions and that the case was politically motivated.His plea also mentioned that the hoarding was authorized by the government Railway Police and constructed with the necessary no objection certificates (NOCs). Since it was located on railway land, Bhinde argued that no additional permission from the BMC was required. He further contested the charge of culpable homicide and claimed that it was misapplied.He also challenged his arrest on the ground that while the police claimed he was arrested on May 17, he was actually detained on May 16. Bhinde's counsel, advocate Rizwan Merchant, relied on newspaper reports to claim that the arrest was indeed made on May 16 from Udaipur and the contention of the respondent that he was arrested on May 17 was false..In response, the Mumbai Police stated that Bhinde was apprehended by the Rajasthan Police on May 16 from a hotel in Udaipur, where he was staying under a different name and had altered his appearance to avoid detection. His formal arrest was recorded on May 17 at 12:40 PM, and he was produced before the jurisdictional magistrate within 24 hours..In its detailed order, the court while rejecting Bhinde's plea also observed that the Newspaper reports by themselves are not evidence of the contents carried by it.They are based only on hearsay evidence and the presumption of genuineness attached to it under Section 81 of the Evidence Act cannot be treated as proof of the facts reported, the Court said.According to the court, evidence clearly indicated that Bhinde willingly accompanied the investigating team to Mumbai from Udaipur where he was residing under a different identity and his arrest was recorded only after interrogation revealed that he had an active role to play in the crime. .Advocates Rizwan Merchant , Mohammed Zain Khan, Gaurav Sinha, Ashraf Kapoor, Khyati Daga and S Patel i/b Gaurav Sinha appeared for the petitioner.Public Prosecutor HS Venegavkar and Assistant Public Prosecutor MM Deshmukh appeared for the State.[Read Judgment]