Ghatkopar Hoarding Collapse: Accused Bhavesh Bhide Arrested by Mumbai Police Crime Branch

Mumbai: Days after a hoarding collapse in Mumbai's Ghatkopar claimed 16 lives, primary accused in the billboard tragedy Bhavesh Bhide was on Thursday evening arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch from Udaipur, from where he is being brought to Mumbai, news agency ANI reported.

Bhide is the director of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the advertising agency responsible for erecting the hoarding in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai.

At least 16 people were killed, and 75 were injured after the billboard collapsed in an unexpected dust storm in Mumbai.

The search and rescue operation was called off on Thursday morning, an official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) told news agency PTI.

The operation went on for 66 hours after a giant 120 feet x 120 feet hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump in the Chheda Nagar area during gusty winds on Monday evening.

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the bodies of a retired general manager of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and his wife were pulled out from a car stuck underneath the structure, taking the death toll to 16. The tragedy also left 75 people injured.

Five interconnected girders of the hoarding had to be cut one by one to rescue the bodies of the couple, PTI reported quoting an official.

The BMC, Mumbai police, BPCL, NDRF, Mumbai fire brigade, and Mahanagar Gas had participated in the rescue operation.

All necessary action is now being taken on a “war footing” to remove illegal hoardings in the metropolis.

The railways has also been directed to follow the specifications and remove hoardings that do not conform to the parameters.

The illegal giant hoarding that collapsed in Ghatkopar stood on a piece of land in possession of the Government Railway Police (GRP), officials had said.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)