Mumbai: The Bombay High Court will pronounce its verdict tomorrow on a plea seeking the immediate release of Ego Media Pvt. Ltd director Bhavesh Bhide, who has claimed that the Ghatkopar hoarding incident was an act of God and that he was illegally arrested. Bhide was arrested in May and is currently in judicial custody.
A bench of Smt. Bharati Dange and Justice Deshpande heard the petition and reserved the order and will pass the order on Friday. Bhinde argued that 17 people died in the May 13 accident but the incident happened due to natural causes and hence he cannot be held responsible. Bhinde has been charged with murder and has sought interim bail till the hearing of the petition. It was argued that due procedure was not followed while making the arrest and rules of including independent witnesses etc. on relevant documents were not followed.
Bhide cited the Indian Meteorological Department's forecast on May 12 to claim that the account had failed to predict the weather the next day. There was no forecast of storm with strong winds, which caused the hoarding to fall, and not due to faulty construction. Neither he nor his company is responsible for such an incident. The hoarding was put up legally after taking all permissions.