Road scam: BMC engineers in dock for collecting fine from accused contractors after FIR

The executive engineers who issued notices for the penalty and collected the demand drafts from the contractors’ firms now face departmental action, sources said.

Senior officials confirmed that they found out about the penalties only when police authorities investigating the scam wrote to the BMC, seeking clarification on whether it can accept a penalty sum from the contractors after the registering of an FIR, with investigations underway.

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Sources said that using the payment of penalty as a ground, contractors sought and were granted anticipatory bail from the Bombay High Court, with the two contractors informing the court that no arrest was needed as the losses to the civic body had been reimbursed.

“We told the court that the civic body recovered all the losses from us. While 70 per cent of the sum was recovered before the FIR was lodged, the remaining amount was recovered a month after the FIR was registered,” said a contractor on condition of anonymity, adding that they had submitted demand drafts to the BMC without disputing the sum.

Two days ago, two road contractors, Mahavir Infrastructure and KR construction, involved in the road scam were granted interim relief by the High Court.

In a first significant arrest in the scam, Dipan Pravinchandra Shah, director of Ms Relcon Infra Projects, was taken into custody on Wednesday. The metropolitan court remanded him in police custody till July 16.

Last week, two chief engineers, Ashok Pawar, (of roads department) and Uday Murudkar (Vigilance), were arrested for their failure to keep proper checks and supervise the work. Prior to that, 22 persons, all junior staff, attached with the two third-party auditors and six contractors, were arrested. They are out on bail now.

Sources said that three out of the six contractors have paid the penalty amount, while the other three are yet to pay.
“All this happened at the level of executive engineers. The chief engineer and deputy chief engineer were also kept in the dark. It is shocking that a penalty was recovered after registering an FIR and when the police investigation is on. It is completely wrong. Once an FIR is registered under the law, it is wrong to recover any amount from the contractors,” admitted a senior official.

Following the police letter, Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, has sought clarification from the roads department.

“We will issue notices to the engineers concerned, seeking their explanation in three days. After that, stern action will taken against them,” the official said.

Following an inquiry into 34 roads, the BMC had registered an FIR with the police, which set up a Special Investigation Team to the probe Rs 352-crore scam. The civic body had named six contractors and two third-party auditors in the FIR. The contractors are RPS Infraprojects, KR Construction, Jay Kumar, Relcon Infraprojects, RK Madhani and Mahavir Infrastructure.