Latest news with #JayJoshi
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Dino Morea Summoned by Mumbai Police in Mithi River Desilting Scam Investigation
has been summoned by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the in connection with the high-profile Mithi River desilting scam. The case centers around the alleged misappropriation of over ₹65 crore, funds originally earmarked for cleaning and maintaining the Mithi River — a vital drainage artery in Mumbai, particularly significant for managing the city's monsoon floods. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now According to investigative reports, the scam involves inflated charges for the rental of dredging and silt-clearing equipment. It is alleged that BMC officials, along with Kadam and Jay Joshi, overbilled the civic body for machinery sourced from Kochi-based Matprop Technical Services Pvt. Ltd. The EOW believes this was carried out in collusion with some Matprop employees and officials from the BMC's Storm Water Drains (SWD) department. Dino's involvement in the case is currently under scrutiny, with authorities seeking clarity on his possible connections to the individuals and transactions in question. As the investigation continues, the focus remains on uncovering the depth of the alleged financial irregularities and determining the roles of all parties involved. Work front for Dino Dino was last seen in 'The Royals' co-starring Zeenat Aman, Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Nora Fatehi among others. He will be seen next in 'Housefull 5'. The upcoming comedy, produced and scripted by Sajid Nadiadwala, boasts a star-studded lineup including Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, and others. Housefull 5 is scheduled to release in theatres on June 6, 2025. Morea, who rose to fame in the late 1990s, began his film career with Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999) but gained widespread recognition through his performance in the 2002 horror-thriller Raaz , co-starring Bipasha Basu. With a career spanning over two decades, he has featured in more than 50 films across Hindi, Tamil, and Kannada cinema. Outside of acting, he has co-founded a production banner, Clockwise Films, and is an active supporter of animal rights initiatives.
Hindustan Times
08-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Mithi River desilting scam: EOW arrests two intermediaries
MUMBAI: A day after booking 13 people in connection with the alleged ₹ 65-crore Mithi River desilting scam, the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested two of the accused—Ketan Kadam and Jayesh Joshi—who allegedly acted as intermediaries in the supply of equipment. Mumbai, India - May 7, 2025:EOW Dept of Mumbai Police arrested 2 accused Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi Mithi River Desilting case and produced at Esplanade Court, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times) Kadam is the director of Woder India LLP, a Mumbai-based company that provides desilting services, while Joshi is associated with Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based industrial product manufacturer. According to the police, the two arrested accused acted as intermediaries in renting out silt pusher machines and multipurpose amphibious dredging equipment supplied by Kochi-based Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd. They allegedly charged the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) an inflated amount for the equipment, in connivance with officials from the civic body's storm water drains department (SWD) and Matprop executives. 'We have arrested Jay Joshi, 49, of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd and Ketan Kadam, 50, of Woder India LLP. They were produced before a court that has sent them to police custody till May 13,' said a police officer, who requested anonymity. The EOW told the court it had found several BMC documents in the accused's mobile phones, along with entries related to cash received from various contractors and copies of tenders related to the Mithi River desilting work, for which they need to be questioned. 'We had called them for questioning after registering the offence on Tuesday morning. When we found their answers were unsatisfactory, they were placed under arrest on Tuesday night,' said a police officer. HT reached out to Woder India and Virgo Specialties for a reaction, but didn't get a response till the time of going to press. On Tuesday, the EOW booked 13 people, including three civic officials, for allegedly causing the BMC a loss of ₹ 65.54 crore in connection with the Mithi River desilting project. According to the EOW, the accused BMC officials tailored the tender for the desilting contract to benefit machinery supplier Matprop, whose director, Dipak Mohan, has also been booked in the case. When contacted by HT on Tuesday, Mohan denied that he or his company were involved in the fraud. BMC officials visited Kochi in October 2020 to purchase desilting equipment from Matprop, the police officer said. The company allegedly quoted ₹ 3 crore for silt pusher machines and ₹ 2 crore for multipurpose amphibious dredging equipment. However, instead of purchasing the machines, the BMC decided to pay the contractors on a per-metric-tonne basis for the silt and dredge removed from the river, officials said. The accused BMC officials then floated tenders with the same specifications that Matprop's equipment had, so that any contractor would be required to buy or hire only its machines, according to the investigation. 'The BMC's tender had a mention of the specific machines that should be available to remove the silt, giving a monopoly to Matprop Technical Services, which was the only manufacturer of the machines in the country,' said the police officer. 'When the contractors approached the company, they directed the contractors to Joshi and Kadam, who, in connivance with Matprop director Dipak Mohan, sold the equipment to contractor Bhupendra Purohit's Tridev Infrastructure,' added the police officer. Purohit's relatives' firm, Tanisha Enterprises, was then awarded BMC contracts in 2021-22, while his own company, Tridev Infrastructure, won contracts in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the officer said. The rent to be paid by the companies for the machines was decided at ₹ 4 crore for two years, when the price of the machines was ₹ 5 crore, the officer added. Purohit is also an accused in the case. 'To ensure the contractor did not suffer losses, the rate for the silt was decided at ₹ 1,609 per metric tonne (MT), which was later increased to ₹ 2,193 per MT for silt pushing machines and ₹ 2,366 per MT for multipurpose amphibious dredging equipment,' said the police officer. After the BMC's vigilance department objected to the rates, they were brought back to ₹ 1,609 per tonne, the officer said. However, despite this, payments were made at the inflated rate to contractors, causing a loss of ₹ 17 crore to the civic body, the officer added. No scientific valuation was done of the amount of mud in the Mithi River, according to the EOW. Every year, to benefit the contractors and BMC officials involved in the scam, the amount of mud removed was increased on paper to cheat the civic body, officials said.
Indian Express
07-05-2025
- Indian Express
Mumbai police's EOW arrests 2 middlemen in multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam
The Mumbai police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Wednesday arrested two people allegedly involved in the multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam. On Tuesday, the agency booked 13 people, including three Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials. Sangramsinh Nishandar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, EOW, identified the arrested accused as Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi, and said both will be produced before a court. Joshi is the owner of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, and Ketan Kadam is of Voder India LLP. After months of inquiries, EOW SIT officials came across various financial irregularities pertaining to Mithi river desilting works contracts between 2021-22 and 2022-23. These irregularities were related to the transportation of sludge and its dumping on the ground. EOW found that the contractors submitted nine fake MoUs. After the FIR, the probe agency also searched seven places, including houses of BMC officials, contractors and the middlemen. The EOW booked the accused under sections 406, 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). BMC assistant engineer Prashant Ramugade, deputy chief engineers Ganesh Bendre and Prashant Tayshette; 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, are among the accused. EOW SIT Inspector Bilal Shaikh is the complainant in the case. EOW officials said more FIRs are likely in the case in future. Sources said that EOW will issue notices to the accused for questioning soon. The Mithi desilting scam As per the FIR, initially filed with the Azad Maidan police, 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, 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, J.R.S Infrastructure and others, provided and helped contractors take disadvantage,' the EOW officer stated in the FIR. Also, the FIR added that officials of the SWD division have caused financial loss to the BMC by approving bills based on fake documents related to the weighbridge and log sheets. More financial benefits squeezed from contractors: EOW According to the EOW's FIR, the accused Deepak Mohan and Ketan Kadam of Matprop, told the contractors that Jay Joshi is the owner of Virgo Specialties and Ketan Kadam is looking after the work of Voder India LLP. They allegedly told the contractors that the Matprop company will do the MOU Undertaking, but the machinery rental agreement will have to be done with Virgo Specialities Pvt. Ltd. and Voder India LLP, and the two-year rental of the machinery will be Rs 8 crore. After the negotiations, it was decided to pay a rental of up to Rs 4 crore for two years. This is how the Matprop company, in collusion with the BMC SWD division officials, forced the contractors to go to these two companies without giving the MOU Undertaking itself and got more financial benefits from the contractors, EOW officials stated in the FIR.
