Ghatkopar tragedy: Prime accused arrested

Mumbai, May 17 , 2024 : The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police arrested the owner of Ego Media, Bhavesh Bhide, the prime accused in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case that left 16 dead and scores injured, police said on Friday. Bhide was nabbed on Thursday from Udaipur, Rajasthan. He has been brought to Mumbai on transfer remand and will be produced in court later Friday, officials said here. Bhide is the owner of the company that put up the giant billboard, whose collapse in a sudden monster dust storm on Monday devastated families of those who couldn’t make it alive from under the debris. Bhinde was picked up from a hotel in the Goverdhan Vilas area of Udaipur, where he had been hiding since the collapse of the billboard on May 13 evening. The search and rescue operation at the site of the collapse was called off on Thursday morning. The Crime Branch had earlier searched his various possible hideouts in Mumbai and Lonavala. According to sources, on Friday morning, Bhide was taken to the government-run JJ Hospital for medical. He will be produced in Killa Court later in the day. The NDRF called off the search operation for missing persons in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse after 66 hours. The 120’x125′ hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump in the Chheda Nagar area of Mumbai’s Ghatkopar suburb on May 13. The tragedy left 75 people injured. The last two bodies recovered before the operation was called off were those of a retired General Manager of Air Traffic Control and his wife.