The Esplanade court on Thursday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Arshad Khan in connection with the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident in which 17 people were killed and 74 were injured. Khan is an alleged business partner of additional director general of police Quaiser Khalid's wife and had allegedly received Rs 84 lakh through cheques from Ego Media Private limited which erected the hoarding in Ghatkopar.
Arshad Khan is shown as an accused in the case. Khan approached the session court for anticipatory bail which was rejected on Tuesday by the court. The incident occurred on May 13 when unauthorized hoarding (140x120) collapsed at a petrol pump in Ghatkopar East, resulting in the death of 17 people and injuring several others. The Mumbai crime branch formed SIT and during the investigation, SIT arrested four individuals, including Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of the company Ego Media, and former director of the company Janhavi Marathe. The unauthorized hoardings were permitted by the former Railway Police Commissioner Quaiser Khalid, who had signed the permission letter given to the Ego Media. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recorded the statement of Khalid as well as current railways commissioner Ravindra Shishve a day before filing chargesheet in last month. The SIT investigation revealed that Arshad Khan had allegedly received Rs 84 lakh through a cheque from Ego Media and the cheques were deposited in more than 10 people's bank accounts and money was withdrawn.
The SIT had named Arshad Khan as an accused in this case. To avoid arrest, Arshad Khan approached the Sessions Court and applied for anticipatory bail which was rejected. Khan has been absconding for more than a month and police have been searching for him. Several police teams have been formed and two summons were issued to record his statement but he did not appear before the SIT and went untraceable.
Meanwhile, the Esplanade Court has issued a non-bailable warrant against Arshad Khan, and the SIT has been looking for him to nab.