Mithi ‘scam': Cops find BMC file notings, raw draft of tenders on suspect's devices
Mumbai: The
economic offences wing
(EOW) has found photocopies of file notings by BMC officials from one of the arrested accused in the Rs 65.5-crore
Mithi river desilting scam
case, said police on Wednesday.
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Two of the 13 named in the FIR lodged on May 6—Ketan Kadam (50) and Jay Joshi (49)—were arrested on Tuesday. Kadam is associated with Ketan Vodar India LLP, while Jay Joshi is a director at Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd. They were produced before a court and sent to police custody till May 13.
In their remand application, police said they have seized electronic devices from Kadam, which contain the posting orders of BMC officials.
Investigators also found photocopies of the original file notings of BMC and raw draft copies of tenders, they said. "We want to investigate who provided these copies to the accused," said an officer. Additionally, police found details in the devices of cash received from various contractors. "It is important to probe who gave this money. We suspect it could be a commission," said the officer.
On March 20 last year, the EOW constituted a special investigation team (SIT) led by joint commissioner Nishith Mishra, DCP Sangramsinh Nishandar and inspector Santosh Tore to probe the alleged scam.
There are allegations that the accused persons, contractors, middlemen and several BMC officials connived and caused a loss of Rs 65.5 crore to the civic body by not desilting Mithi river, submitted fake bills and got them cleared.
Police said Kadam signed rental agreements for silt pusher machines and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines between the contractors and the company renting them. The machinery belonged to Matprop, a company that sold two machines to Virgo, said a police officer.
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While the machine cost around Rs 3.1 crore, the BMC officers named as accused allegedly changed the note sheet and asked the contractors to take it on rent. The contractors rented it for Rs 4 crore for two years.
Earlier, BMC would pay Rs 1,609 per tonne for desilting, but it gave new rates of Rs 2,193 in 2021 and Rs 2,366 in 2023 tenders. The old rate was restored after the civic vigilance department objected to the revisions.
A police officer said when a contractor who wanted to buy the machine went to Matprop, he was asked to contact Kadam and Joshi.
Advocates Mahesh Rajpopat and Hemal Kanani, who appeared for Joshi in court, said, "The investigation in the matter is in progress. It seems the main culprits in the matter have not been arrested yet... No specific role is attributed to [Joshi] in the FIR."
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