Mithi desilting scam: ED questions actor Dino Morea and brother for over 3 hours

The Morea brothers appeared at the ED’s Ballard Estate office on Thursday morning, joined the money-laundering investigation and were allowed to go home after three hours of grilling. They may be called again if required, sources hinted.

A close friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, Morea is reportedly close to Ketan Kadam, a key accused in the scam and the alleged middleman of Vodar India Limited with whom the actor has reportedly been acquainted for the past 25 years.

Sources in the police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said there were five to seven monetary transactions worth Rs 14-18 lakh between Morea and Kadam. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the EOW is probing these transactions.

The EOW last month booked 13 people for allegedly causing wrongful losses worth more than Rs 65.54 crore to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Based on the EOW’s predicate offence, the ED registered an enforcement case information report. It last week searched more than 15 locations in Mumbai and Kochi, Kerala, including the premises of 13 BMC officers, contractors, and middlemen named as accused in the EOW case. Morea’s Bandra (West) home was also searched and the ED then summoned the actor and his brother to join its investigation.

According to sources, the ED has begun investigating properties acquired by the accused during the scam period and the source of the money used to acquire the properties. During the initial inquiry, crucial findings emerged, prompting the agency to conduct the search operations, the sources said.

Desilting work contracts worth nearly Rs 1,100 crore are under the scanner. After the 2005 Mumbai floods, the authorities realised the issues with the Mithi river, an 18.64-km seasonal river, and the government put in efforts to clean sludge from the riverbed to ensure uninterrupted water flow. It has been alleged that massive corruption occurred in the desilting work sanctioned and carried out by the BMC.

An initial police inquiry revealed that various financial irregularities occurred in connection with contracts awarded for desilting the river between 2021-22 and 2022-23. These irregularities were related to the transportation of sludge and its dumping on the ground.

Later, the EOW found that the contractors had submitted nine fake memorandums of understanding and that the BMC officers accused in the case had allegedly misused their positions for wrongful financial gain.

The SIT has arrested two middlemen—Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi, owner of Virgo Specialities Private Limited.

Among the accused, while Joshi has secured bail, two serving and one retired BMC officers have sought anticipatory bail.