Vasai-Virar illegal construction: ED says ‘intricate cartel' involved, used codewords to signal bribes
A special court on Thursday sent Pawar, YS Reddy, the suspended official, who was the deputy director of Urban Planning, Sitaram Gupta, a former corporator of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi party and construction businessman and his nephew Arun Gupta, to ED's custody till August 20 for further probe. The ED arrested the four on Wednesday in connection with its probe into the illegal construction of 41 residential and commercial buildings in the Vasai-Virar region, with connivance between VVCMC officials and builders. The buildings were constructed on 60 acres of land, 30 of which was government land, reserved for a dumping ground and a sewage treatment plant.
Relying on statements recorded of builders and architects, the ED claimed that the legal department of the municipal corporation was paid Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh per file, the engineering department, Rs 25,000 per file and the others from junior engineer, municipal engineer, assistant director, deputy director and the commissioner, as per a fixed rate as per square feet of the illegal buildings. The ED's special public prosecutor Kavita Patil, told court that Reddy, who was at the town planning department since 2012, used a codeword system, for collection of bribes, where 'D' meant for commission to be paid to him, and 'C' for then commissioner, Pawar.
The ED claimed that in searches carried out at the home of Reddy, who was deputy director, town planning from 2012, Rs 8.23 crore cash and 'diamond-studded' jewellery worth Rs 23.25 crore was seized. 'The accused number 3 (Reddy) organised a cartel of VVCMC officers, junior engineers, architects, CAs and Liaisoners. He was involved in an organised action plan to acquire the proceeds of crime by committing the illegal omission to perform his public duty and thereafter granting development permissions at fixed rates,' the ED claimed. The ED claimed that evidence including WhatsApp chats revealed that he charged Rs 10-12 per square feet of the built area of the project.
The ED alleged that Pawar, who was the commissioner from 2022 to 2025, was directly responsible for taking preventive action so that no illegal construction occurs but he turned a blind eye. 'Accused number 4 (Pawar) flourished the already existing cartel comprising of senior VVCMC officers, local builders, liasioners for keeping a blind eye and taking no action over rampant illegal construction on government/private land and fixed the commission /bribe amount at the total rate of Rs 150 square feet,' the ED told court. It referred to another statement claiming that Pawar took Rs 50 per square feet and the rest was distributed among three senior posts. The central agency claimed that this was done through a distant relative of Pawar, who allegedly collected the money from Reddy and invested in properties at various locations in the state, and bought luxury expensive sarees, gold, pearls, gold and diamond studded jewellery.
The ED had claimed that the cash was infused in multiple entities including in residential projects floated in the names of his close family members, including his wife. The ED claimed that Pawar's custody is necessary to prevent tampering or evidence as it suspects that he deleted call logs and WhatsApp data when a search was conducted at his home.
The accused denied these charges with one of them claiming that the case resulted out of political vendetta.
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