The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra Police to produce the charge-sheets they filed in the 28-foot Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue collapse case for their consideration while deciding the bail plea of ​​two accused arrested in this case.

The bench of Justice Anil Kilor was hearing the bail pleas of engineer Chetan Patil and sculptor Jaydeep Aptewho claimed that the statue which had been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fell due to gust of wind.

Advocate Niranjan Mundargi, appearing for Patil, argued that Patil had only designed the pedestal on which the statue was placed.

However, Additional Public Prosecutor Geeta Mule argued that the case was filed about two-three days ago in the case, so under changed circumstances, the accused whose bail pleas were earlier rejected by the lower court, would have to go back there.

However, the court directed the state to provide the charge sheet so that the court could examine the evidence against the accused and decide the bail applications in the high court itself.

Mule argued that due to the impending Assembly elections in the state, the court should give him a two-week time to comply with the court’s directions and receive directions from the inquiry officer. Advocate Ganesh Sovani, appearing for Apte, objected, saying such long adjournment dates should not be provided.

Mule insisted: “For elections, the police could be stopped. Counting is on November 23.”

However, the court adjourned the hearing to November 21, stating that since the charge sheet was already present, the prosecutor only had to provide the details of the evidence against the accused.

According to the prosecution file, the task of erecting a platform for the statue was assigned to Patil. He was also the structural consultant who was also given the task of analyzing the stability of the platform structure.

According to the prosecution, the Maharashtra government’s Public Works Department conducted an inspection on August 20 and found rust on the joints of the statue, after which many tourists at the site also expressed concern.

After the statue collapsed, Patil was arrested on August 30 by the Malwan police and is currently in judicial custody and maintains that he had nothing to do with the collapse of the structure.

Patil’s wife filed another petition in the high court against the grounds of arrest not provided by the police at the time of his arrest and thus, on the ground of illegal arrest, sought cancellation of his detention order.

Apte, the owner of a film called Artistry, filed his bail application through lawyer Sovani, who said he made the bronze statue based on the work order issued on September 8, 2023 by the shipyard. His plea claimed that the shipyard authorities never complained of artistic deficiencies or shortcomings.

The FIR was registered within nine hours of the fall by the PWD officers, who have no technical expertise in metallurgy. Moreover, the FIR does not claim that any person was injured due to the fall of the statue, Apte said in his plea.

At most, it could be a case of negligence, he said, arguing that precautions should have been taken to prevent rusting, he added.