The case was probed by a special investigation team of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

The chargesheet also has the statements of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials besides a mason and ready-mix concrete supplier involved in the erection of the hoarding, the official said, as per the PTI.

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Seventeen people were killed and 84 injured after an oversized advertisement hoarding erected illegally on GRP land in Ghatkopar (East) crashed on a petrol pump on May 13 amid a storm.

Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media, the firm that installed the hoarding, is the main accused in the case.

While probe is still underway, nobody has been shown as wanted accused in the case, the official said.

The Maharashtra government suspended IPS officer Khalid, who was serving as additional Director General of Police, after the incident for alleged administrative lapses and irregularities in sanctioning the construction of the hoarding without the approval of the Director General of Police. 

IPS officer suspended over Ghatkopar hoarding collapse

Earlier, Quaiser Khalid, a 1997 batch IPS officer, was suspended by the state home department in connection with the May 13 Ghatkopar hoarding collapse, which claimed 17 lives.

The home department had recently issued a detailed order stating that the suspension was initiated based on a report submitted by the director general of police on May 21. The report found gross irregularities and administrative lapses in sanctioning the hoarding during Khalid’s tenure as commissioner of railway police, Mumbai.

The order had stated that the Maharashtra government has decided to “initiate disciplinary proceedings against Shri. Md. Quaiser Khalid, IPS (MH: 1997), Additional Director General of PCR, Maharashtra State the then CP, Railways, Mumbai in respect of administrative lapses and irregularities in sanctioning the hoarding, on his own, without approval of the DGP office and in respect of the misusage of powers by allowing massive hoarding size of 120x140 sq ft, deviating from the approved norms as pointed out in the report of Director General of Police, Maharashtra (sic).”

(with PTI inputs)