The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday launched a massive search operation in Mumbai and Kochi in Kerala in the alleged multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The searches were held at more than 15 locations, including the residences and offices of the 13 BMC officials, contractors, and middlemen named as accused in the FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police last month. Searches were also held at the Bandra (West) residence of actor Dino Morea, a close friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray. Morea was questioned twice last month by the EOW SIT.
An agency source confirmed the developments to The Indian Express and said that 8-10 accused and suspects are likely to be summoned soon for questioning. This also includes Morea and his brother.
Search operations are also being held in Kerala, as one of the companies that provided the desilting machinery, Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd, is based in Kochi.
The EOW had booked 13 accused for causing wrongful loss to the civic body worth more than Rs 65.54 crore in the alleged scam. Based on the EOW’s predicate offence, the ED last month registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and began a money laundering investigation.
Sources have said that the central agency before initiating the search action, has already started looking into the properties acquired by the accused persons during the scam period and source of money used to acquire those properties. During initial inquiry cruicial findings surfaced prompting the agency to carry out search operations. Sources said that important documents have been seized.
An ED official said that some interesting facts have emerged during the searches but details can’t be shared at this stage.
Last month, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the EOW had booked 13 people, including five private contractors, three BMC officials, three middlemen, and two private company officials, for causing wrongful loss to the civic body worth more than Rs 65.54 crore in the alleged scam. Desilting work contracts worth nearly Rs 1,100 crore are under the scanner.
Mithi river is an 18.64-km seasonal river with residential slum pockets and industrial patches. It plays the role of a natural stormwater drainage channel for Mumbai, carrying excess water during the monsoon. But, over the years, it has been used by residents to dump garbage, sewage, and industrial waste.
After the 2005 Mumbai floods, the government decided to clean the 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.
Initial inquiry by the police revealed that various financial irregularities pertaining to contracts for desilting the river were done between 2021-22 and 2022-23. These irregularities were related to the transportation of sludge and its dumping on the ground. Later, EOW found that the contractors had submitted nine fake memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
The Mumbai police named BMC assistant engineer Prashant Ramugade, deputy chief engineers Ganesh Bendre and Prashant Tayshette (retired), Deepak Mohan, Kishore Menon, Jay Joshi, Ketan Kadam and Bhupendra Purohit, the directors of Acute Designing, Kailash Construction Company, NA Construction, Nikhil Construction, and JRS Infrastructure, respectively, as the accused.
Sources said ED officials are closely scrutinising the financial dealings and transactions related to the desilting work contracts.
The scam
As per EOW, the accused BMC officers allegedly misused their positions for wrongful financial gains. The FIR further alleges that they conspired to defraud the BMC financially by including terms and conditions as mentioned in the contract agreement regarding the silt pusher machine and the multipurpose amphibious pontoon machine.
They allegedly colluded with Mohan Menon of Matprop Company, Jay Joshi of Virgo Specialties, Ketan Kadam and other partners and directors of Vodar India LLP, and contractor Bhupendra Purohit, among others.
“The accused BMC officer of the Storm Water Drains (SWD) division of the Municipal Corporation, without verifying the authenticity of the dumping sites mentioned in the false and fabricated MoU submitted by the directors of the contractor companies — Acute Designs, Kailash Construction Company, N A Construction, Nikhil Construction Company, JRS Infrastructure and others, provided and helped contractors take disadvantage,” the EOW FIR stated. Also, the FIR added that officials of the SWD division caused financial loss to the BMC by approving bills based on fake documents related to the weighbridge and log sheets.
The SIT under EOW has already arrested two middlemen – Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi – in the case. Joshi is the owner of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, and Kadam is from Vodar India LLP. EOW officials seized electronic devices from Kadam and copies of posting orders of officials in the BMC’s SWD department.
The EOW also questioned actor Dino Morea and his brother twice in the alleged scam after it was revealed that they were very close to middleman Kadam and had known him for 25 years. A few transactions from Kadam to Morea’s account raised suspicion and prompted the EOW to summon the actor.
Alleged middleman Joshi has secured bail in the matter, while two named serving BMC officers and one returned civics officials have moved court seeking anticipatory bail.
Mithi River is an 18.64-km seasonal river with residential slum pockets and industrial patches alongside it. (File photo) 
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