ED conducts fresh searches in Mithi river desilting scam, freezes Rs 47 crore
The searches covered office / residential premises linked to BMC contractors namely M/s Acute Designs, M/s Kailash Construction Company, M/s Nikhil Construction Co, M/s N A Construction Pvt Ltd, M/s JRS Infrastructure and BMC engineer Prashant Krishna Tayshete.
The searches led to freezing of more than Rs 47 crore in multiple bank accounts, Fixed Deposits and Demat accounts. Further, certain digital devices, records pertaining to various immovable properties and incriminating documents have been seized, an ED officer said.
The ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged on May 6 at Azad Maidan police atation, Mumbai, under various sections of IPC against 13 individuals / entities, including the above-mentioned individuals / entities, for causing wrongful loss of over Rs 65 crore to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The evidence collected during the course of investigation and the search operations prima facie indicate various irregularities in the works related to desilting of Mithi River by the said contractors in connivance with officials of BMC's SWD department and others.
The accused BMC contractors had allegedly submitted various false documents, including MoUs from landowners and NOCs from respective gram panchayats for lands purportedly used for silt dumping.
The investigation has also revealed that BMC officials also misused their positions for financial gains in procurement and use of Silt Pusher and Multipurpose Amphibious Pontoon Machines introduced in the tenders for desilting of Mithi River in 2021-22.
Earlier, the ED carried out searches at 18 locations on June 6. The total value of Proceeds of Crime (POC) seized / frozen in the case now stands at Rs 49.8 crore (approximately).
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