Indian police have arrested Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of a massive billboard that collapsed onto a petrol station, killing 16 people in Mumbai, according to media reports.
The tragic incident occurred on Monday during intense rain and dust storms that lashed the coastal megacity. Seventy-five people were rescued from the wreckage, as emergency services worked tirelessly in the aftermath.
Police have charged Bhinde with culpable homicide after he fled Mumbai following the collapse. He was apprehended late Thursday in Udaipur, a tourist city approximately 800 kilometers (497 miles) to the north, according to Police Joint Commissioner Lakhmi Gautam, who spoke to The Indian Express.
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“Bhinde has been nabbed from Udaipur where he was staying in a hotel under the name of his relative,” Gautam told the newspaper. “Our teams had been trying to track him down and eventually found him on Thursday evening.”
Efforts to reach the police for further comment were unsuccessful on Friday.
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The storm that struck Mumbai on Monday caused widespread disruption, uprooting trees, causing brief power outages, and disrupting the city’s train network. Mumbai’s international airport also temporarily grounded flights, with at least 15 planes diverted.
In response to the tragedy, Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, has ordered an audit of all billboards in Mumbai to prevent similar incidents in the future.
