Ghatkopar tragedy: ACB inquiry after man says IPS officer, aide took Rs 30 lakh for hoarding contract

MUMBAI: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has initiated an inquiry against suspended IPS officer Quaiser Khalid after a businessman alleged that he had paid him and his wife’s business partner Rs 30 lakh and sponsored their hotel stay in the US to bag a hoarding contract.
Khalid was suspended last month following a report from the DGP’s office highlighting irregularities and lapses in the erection of the Ghatkopar hoarding that crashed and killed 17 people and injured over 70 in May.

Mohammed Raees Khan, aresident of Sakinaka who is into the hoarding business, alleged that the money was paid in cash. He alleged that Khalid’s wife’s business partner, Arshad Khan, was also extended free hotel stay in the US.
Khalid did not respond to a TOI message seeking his comment on the allegation.
Khan had submitted the complaint to DGP Rashmi Shukla a week before the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse. Shukla, who also holds the charge of DGP ACB, sent Khan’s complaint to the ACB.
Khan said in his complaint that Khalid, when he was GRP commissioner in 2022, removed Khan’s hoardings at Tilak bridge in Dadar, saying that it was railway property and the matter was in court. When Khan contacted him, Khalid informed him that he would have to file a tender to secure the hoarding contract.
Khan alleged that despite making several rounds to Khalid’s office, the contract was awarded to Gujju Ads without any tender. Khalid alle- gedly assured Khan that he would give him another hoarding contract in the railway colony in Dadar. Khan claimed that on Khalid’s demand, he paid Rs 10 lakh at Khalid’s residence, while Rs 20 lakh was given to Arshad Khan at Shivaji Nagar, who is purportedly an associate of Khalid and a director in his wife’s company, Mahpara Garments. Mahpara is under scrutiny for allegedly receiving Rs 46 lakh from Bhavesh Bhinde, owner of Ego Media Pvt Ltd, which erected the Ghatkopar hoarding.
The complainant submitted WhatsApp chats among him, Khalid, Arshad Khan and a few others to whom he said he paid money at Khalid’s request. In one of the conversations, Khalid informed Khan that he was in the US and would be returning on Sept 7, 2022. Khalid asked Khan to book a room for him in a five-star hotel in the US. Khalid allegedly said: “Okay, but it should include breakfast. We may consider hotels in the Queens area too,” as detailed in the letter submitted to the DGP’s office.