India, March 25 -- A Maharashtra government-appointed panel that investigated the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse incident has blamed IPS officer Quaiser Khalid, civic officials, and others for the "illegalities" and regulatory violations that led to the deaths of 17 people in May 2024.

The panel's report, tabled in the Maharashtra assembly on Tuesday, stated that the sequence of events showed collusion between private parties and officials to circumvent the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC's) regulations.

Seventeen people died and 74 others were injured after a massive, illegal hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar during a dust storm on May 13, 2024. The incident, one of Mumbai's deadliest infrastructure failures in re...