Museum elevator accident probe in final stage, arrests likely soon: Cops

Mateen Hafeez / TNN

TNN | Jun 3, 2019, 08.19 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: Byculla police, probing the death of dentist Dr Arnavaz Havewala (64) in the Bhau Daji Lad museum lift case, said they were in final stages of deciding who was responsible for the mishap on April 28.

Investigators are awaiting a crucial electrical inspector (lift) report, which will clarify whose job it was to maintain the lift. Arrests are likely soon for negligence causing death, said sources.

Dr Havewala, attached to Masina Hospital, suffered multiple fractures and died there on May 9. Her daughter Hera, who was also in the lift and was injured, was also admitted to hospital but later discharged.

Police had registered a case under sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) against unidentified persons. When Havewala died, police added section 304 (negligence causing death) of IPC in the case.

Over two weeks back, police had written to the electrical inspector (lift) who visited the spot. "We are expecting the report this week. We recorded statements of employees of Expert Equipment Pvt Ltd, which maintained the lift till March 2019. The lift should have stopped and not crashed if there was a technical error. The report will tell us whose fault it was," said a senior police officer. Police have recorded statements of around 20 persons in the case.

Police also collected information and took expert opinion on whether installing an unconventional hydraulic lift was feasible at the museum. The lift was installed in the museum in 2005 by Expert Equipment. The agreement for maintenance contract was not renewed. Further, the firm had in 2014 asked the museum authorities to appoint a trained lift operator to handle the lift, said a police officer. During the probe, police also found that the lift had no licence to operate. But Expert Equipment claimed that no licence was needed for unconventional hydraulic lifts. The electrical inspector's report will also cover this aspect.

The Times of India, June 3, 2019

Mumbai: Accountant arrested for Rs 7 crore fraud spent loot on dance bars, booked flat

Mateen Hafeez / TNN

Jun 1, 2019, 05.41 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: Two months after an accountant was arrested for allegedly siphoning off Rs 7 crore from a watch showroom housed at a five-star hotel, the police said that the accused, Shailesh Haryan (34), had splurged the money on "costly" liquor, visiting dance bars and putting up at hotels with friends.

The economic offences wing of the city police recently filed a chargesheet against Shailesh Haryan (34), a Mira Road resident. Haryan worked at the showroom between 2010 and 2015.

The police said that he misused the company's system password to divert funds, made dummy entries and fudged the company's accounts.

The discrepancies had come to the fore during the auditing process, while the balance sheet for the financial year 2014-15 was being compiled. The auditor found that funds had been transferred to Haryan's bank accounts. Inspector Manish Awale filed the chargesheet.

A police officer said that Haryan splurged money on friends to buy costly liquor and visit dance bars.

Haryan had also used Rs 10 lakh of the misappropriated funds to buy jewellery besides Rs 23 lakh which was used to book a flat in Virar. The police said that he had returned the jewellery and the ownership papers of the flat to the company.

The Times of India, June 1, 2019