THE MUMBAI police, which has been unable to track down Arshad Khan, a key witness in the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case, is in the process of approaching the court seeking to issue a notice to Khan to appear before the police, failing which he could be declared as an absconder.
The SIT probing the case in which 17 people had died had summoned Khan to record his statement, but he did not turn up.
Khan was not found at his residence and his phone was switched off too. Police have now decided to approach courts to declare him an absconder and eventually seek seizure of his property, an officer said.
A senior officer said, “Since Khan has been missing and has not responded to multiple summons, we will be approaching the court to issue a proclamation notice to him to appear before us. If he fails to turn up, the court will declare him an absconder under Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. If he still doesn’t turn up, the court could order the seizure of his property.”
As per police, Bhavesh Bhinde, director of Ego Media, the company that operated the 140X120 feet hoarding which collapsed on the petrol pump, told the police that he would give post-dated cheques to Khan which the latter would deposit with other people and take cash from them. Police found these transactions suspicious as Khan was not linked to the company. Khan had earlier told the police that he had provided construction services to Ego Media and took a payment in exchange for that.
So far, four persons including Bhinde have been arrested by the SIT, of which two persons are out on bail. A chargesheet has been filed in the case and the police is likely to file a supplementary chargesheet.
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