Mumbai: On Wednesday, the Bhandup police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against several individuals, including the contractors and owners of Rakshit Infrastructure, and Vodafone company for allegedly erecting an illegal mobile tower at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar in Bhandup, which collapsed on Sunday, damaging a couple of houses.
According to the FIR filed by BMC engineer Datta Patil, on Sunday evening, a Vodafone tower collapsed on three houses in the aforementioned area. Patil mentioned that at the site, there was a shop named Janata General Shop owned by Rupali Modle, and behind the shop, the vacant land was rented out to Ramesh Jha of Rakshit Infrastructure for three years. Every month, Modle received a rent of Rs. 12,000. On this land, Vodafone erected their tower.
On Sunday, during heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds, Modle’s shop was damaged, including the back wall, and the tower subsequently fell on a neighboring house owned by Manohar Raorane. The collapse of the huge tower has now caused damages estimated at over Rs. 7-8 lakhs for Raorane, said Patil in the FIR.
The BMC promptly launched an internal investigation to gather details about the tower by questioning Modle, who said that Jha and Vodafone had provided her with a letter stating that they had the approval for installing the tower. Patil inquired about this with the deputy chief engineer of the Building Proposal Department, who denied ever giving any such permission.
In the FIR, the police have booked Rupali Modle, Ramesh Jha, the directors/owners of Rakshit Infrastructure, and the maintenance staff and others of Vodafone under sections 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and others of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
