A Mumbai court has sent Jahnavi Marathe, former director of an advertising firm which had installed a hoarding that collapsed in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area and claimed 17 lives, and her associate Sagar Patil to crime branch police custody till June 15 for further investigation.
The crime branch arrested both the accused from Goa. Marathe has been absconding after her anticipatory bail was rejected by the sessions court. According to the SIT, Marathe was the director of EGO Media Private Limited from its inception in 2020 till December 2023, after which the prime accused Bhavesh Bhinde took over as the director.
Marathe allegedly received financial benefits in connection with the ill-fated hoarding, while Patil was held after a probe showed he was the contractor who erected the structure, the official said.
While seeking her custody, the SIT produced letters that Marathe had sent to the Government Railway Police (GRP) as director of Ego Media. In the letters, she has written that the GRP would stand to gain if her company was given the contract. Later, the then GRP Commissioner had granted them the contract.
The SIT also mentioned that Patil did not ensure quality and that the foundation was deep enough to support a hoarding of the size of 140X120 feet.
Bhavesh Bhinde was arrested earlier along with structural engineer Manoj Sanghu, who provided the stability certificate to the hoarding allegedly without detailed inspection, the official added.
A total of 4 people were arrested in the incident of hoarding collapse at a petrol pump in Ghatkopar on May 13.
