Mumbai court finds prima facie evidence of tender manipulation in Mithi River desilting scam

Time of India

a day ago

Mumbai: In its detailed rejection order, the sessions court stated that prima facie evidence indicates Prashant Tayshete, along with other BMC officers, played a role in manipulating the tender terms and conditions to ensure the use of two specific machines for the Mithi River desilting work.
While the anticipatory bail plea of the deputy chief engineer of the stormwater drains department (operation & maintenance) was rejected on Saturday in the Rs 65 crore scam, the detailed order was made available on Monday.
The judge further said that the terms and conditions were prepared in a manner to give an advantage to Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd at such a rate that caused wrongful loss to BMC. "It is an economic offence involving public money.
Considering the nature of the offence, the post held by the applicant in the process of the project, and the wrongful loss of public money to the local body, the applicant is not entitled to the discretionary relief of anticipatory bail," Judge NG Shukla said.
The judge, however, granted him interim protection from arrest for two weeks after he sought time to file an appeal in the Bombay High Court.
Tayshete submitted that he was consistently employed within the solid waste management (SWM) department and held no responsibilities in the storm water drain (SWD) department.
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The judge, however, said this claim lacked documentary support. The judge further said that reports dated Nov 4 and 23, 2020, indicated his involvement or charge within the SWD department. The judge further noted that Tayshete, along with other BMC officers, visited Kerala and Delhi between Sept 25 and 28, 2020.
While co-accused Prashant Ramagude, and he claimed to have paid for hotel bills in Kerala, flight tickets and hotel booking records indicate that these expenses were covered by Ketan Kadam, CEO of M/s Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, a company that subsequently leased machines to contractors at inflated rates.
Crucially, at the time of this visit, the terms and conditions for using these specific machines in the desilting work had not yet been approved by higher BMC authorities. The fact that Ketan Kadam bore the expenses for the BMC officers' visit and stay prima facie suggested a "hand-in-glove" arrangement between the BMC officers and Ketan Kadam. This arrangement, the judge said, appeared to have been designed to insert specific terms and conditions for machine usage into the tenders, ensuring future benefits for Ketan Kadam and other contractors.
"The criminal element of cheating lies here. It is unbelievable that the applicant, who was working as the officer of high rank, i.e., Executive Engineer, was not aware of who was bearing the expenses of their visits and stay at Delhi and Kerala," the judge said. The judge further observed that following the visit to Delhi and Kerala, three reports were submitted to incorporate specific terms and conditions into the tender for the use of specific machines, which were to be supplied by M/s Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd.
*Meanwhile, on Monday, the court granted the anticipatory bail pleas of Deepak Mohan (56) and Kishore Menon (54) of Matprop Company, who were also named in the case. Calling the allegations concocted, their plea said that with over 30 machines deployed to government and private agencies, the company has proven its expertise and reliability. It said that given a strong track record, including projects like the Parvathy-Puthanar rejuvenation, the current case is unwarranted.
Implicating the reputable applicants risks severe reputational damage, harassment, and hardship, which would harm the company's goodwill and disrupt ongoing national projects, the plea said.