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The Print
3 days ago
- The Print
Fake MoUs, ghost dumping sites & Kerala firm. What's Mithi river ‘desilting scam' & Dino Morea link
This has led to significant political fallout with the ruling Mahayuti accusing Shiv Sena (UBT) of corruption, particularly former state minister Aaditya Thackeray. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police, along with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is probing the alleged multi-crore scam, and earlier this month, the police registered a case against 13 persons, including contractors and civic officials. Mumbai: At the heart of the controversy over the Mithi river desilting project in Mumbai, being carried out by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is an alleged Rs 65 crore scam. Actor Dino Morea and his brother are among those being questioned in the case. The 18.3 km river, an arterial water body in the city, originates from Vihar and Powai lakes, which supply water to Mumbai, and flows through the city's western suburbs before joining Mahim Creek, and from there into the Arabian Sea. This river plays an important role as a natural stormwater drainage channel, carrying excess water during the monsoon. In 2005, overflow from the river was held as one of the reasons for the Mumbai deluge that claimed more than 1,000 lives. It put the state of the river, particularly the heavy pollution and silt accumulation due to settlements on its banks, in focus. Since then, BMC has been making efforts to clean the river and free it from silt and garbage before monsoon, to ensure the flow of the river is unobstructed. However, over the years, there have been allegations of corruption in the project. On 6 May, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered by a special investigation team (SIT) made up of officials from the EOW against 13 persons at Azad Maidan police station. It included five contractors, three middlemen, and two company officials. The FIR said BMC officials created tenders in a way that benefited a certain machinery supplier. Contractors then allegedly generated fake bills for transportation of the silt outside Mumbai, thereby inflicting a loss of more than Rs 65.54 crore on the civic body, it added. Also Read: Mantralaya to Marine Drive, why South Mumbai spots that have never seen flooding went underwater What does the FIR say In the FIR, Mumbai Police named BMC assistant engineer Prashant Ramugade, deputy chief engineers Ganesh Bendre and Prashant Tayshette, as well as Deepak Mohan, Kishore Menon, Jay Joshi, Ketan Kadam and Bhupendra Purohit, directors of Acute Designing, Kailash Construction Company, NA Construction, Nikhil Construction and JRS Infrastructure, respectively. Police are currently probing project work undertaken between 2021 and 2024. According to the FIR, a copy of which ThePrint has accessed, the alleged offences relate to transportation and dumping of silt, for which police say Acute Designs, Kailash Construction Company, NA Construction, Nikhil Construction and JRS Infrastructure in total submitted nine fake MoUs. BMC officers, the FIR added, did not verify the authenticity of the dumping sites mentioned in the MoUs, thus giving undue advantage to the contractors. They even approved bills based on fake documents related to the weighbridge and log sheets, the FIR said. The probe revealed that signatures of some of the landowners were forged. In some cases, MoUs were signed with people who did not own any land. According to the FIR, Deepak Mohan and Kishore Menon, who it said were also part of other companies, offered BMC silt pusher and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines claiming to be representatives of the machinery supply company Matprop, at a cost of Rs 3.09 crore. Then, BMC officials visited the Matprop plant in Kerala. The civic body then floated a tender which had the exact same specifications as the Matprop machinery, leaving contractors no other option than to buy from them. 'We have evidence that when the contractor went to Matprop to purchase the machine, they directed him to a middleman who offered to rent the machines for two years for Rs 8 crore, and later settled for Rs 4 crore,' DCP Sangramsinh Nishandar told the media Tuesday. The FIR added that Deepak Mohan and Ketan Kadam of Matprop signed the MoUs, but machinery was rented by Virgo Specialities and Voder India for two years for Rs 8 crore—they later settled for Rs 4 crore. They also told the contractors that Jay Joshi is the owner of Virgo Specialities, and Kadam was looking after Voder India. Interestingly, Kadam is not a partner or director in either Virgo or Voder India but acted like a middleman, as did Joshi. Both were arrested earlier this month. 'This is how Matprop, in collusion with the BMC SWD division officials, forced the contractors to go to these two companies without the MoU and got more financial benefits from the contractors,' the FIR said. ThePrint reached Matprop via email for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received. The FIR charged BMC officials and contractors with conspiring to benefit from selling these machines at a higher rate. While the rate for desilting earlier was Rs 1,609 per metric ton, with these new machines, it went up to Rs 2,193 per metric ton. The FIR did, however, add that when BMC vigilance department objected to the inflated rate, the earlier rate was approved. The officials were also accused of making a payment of Rs 17.07 crore to the contractors. On 26 May, Joshi and Kadam were denied bail, and a court in Mumbai noted that it could not rule out that they would cause 'hurdles in the investigation' if released. 'If the accused are released on bail, the possibility of causing hurdles in the investigation cannot be ruled out,' the court held. Dino Morea link Actor Dino Morea and his brother Santino's names popped up while going through the calls and financial transactions of Ketan Kadam. According to the initial investigation, Santino repeatedly spoke to Kadam on the phone. EOW also found transactions linked to Kadam, which it said were suspicious, and was probing if they were also related to the Morea brothers. On 26 May, the brothers were questioned for eight hours, followed by another round of questioning on 28 May that went on for five hours. Politics over the alleged scam Since the Shiv Sena, before it split in 2022, controlled BMC for the last 25 years, Sanjay Nirupam from the now Eknath Shinde-led Sena allaged a link between the scam and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray. 'Everyone in Mumbai knows that during that period, no contract could be awarded without the approval of 'Matoshree' (private residence of the Thackerays in Bandra). A total of 18 contractors were appointed for the Mithi river cleaning work during this time,' Nirupam told reporters on 26 May. 'Since (actor) Dino Morea has been questioned (in the scam) and as he is also a known associate of Aaditya Thackeray, his role must be investigated,' Nirupram added. Thackeray, while speaking to the media Tuesday, said he was happy that the desilting project is being probed. 'Whoever is guilty in this, needs to be jailed. In the Shinde regime, many scams took place, this could also be one of them, so let it be investigated.' (Edited by Sanya Mathur) Also Read: With a '13-storey' mountain of waste, why Deonar dumping ground closure is a challenging task
India Today
6 days ago
- India Today
Hit by driver, dragged: Video shows Mumbai man clinging to bonnet as car speeds off
A video from Mumbai last night is going viral on the internet showing a man clinging to the bonnet of a fast-moving car, caught in a life-threatening viral footage shows a Maruti Ertiga speeding down a highway while a man is seen hanging onto the vehicle's bonnet, desperately trying to save his life. Despite the dangerous circumstances, the driver inside the car continues to accelerate instead of slowing moment was captured on a mobile phone by a biker riding nearby. The video shows the car picking up speed while the man clings on, barely managing to hold his position on the moving vehicle. According to sources, the incident took place in Mumbai's Vile Parle area. Reports suggest a heated argument broke out between the drivers of two vehicles. The altercation quickly escalated, and in a fit of rage, the driver of the Ertiga allegedly attempted to run over the other man standing in front of his an attempt to save himself, the man jumped onto the car's bonnet and thus began a terrifying struggle between life and on the viral video, Mumbai Police has registered a case against the Ertiga driver, Bheem Kumar Mahto. The driver is currently in police custody for on the incident, Mumbai Police said that no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands. The exact reason behind the altercation remains under Watch IN THIS STORY#Mumbai
Time of India
6 days ago
- Time of India
'Dragged for 6 km on car's bonnet': How a minor fight between cab drivers over parking space at Mumbai airport turned into a Bollywood stunt
— MumbaiPolice (@MumbaiPolice) Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A minor fight between two aggregator cab drivers at Mumbai's domestic airport spiraled into a shocking and dangerous stunt late Tuesday night, when one driver clung to the bonnet of the other's moving vehicle for nearly 6 kilometres along the busy Western Express dramatic incident, which occurred around midnight, involved Bhimprasad Mahanto (34), a Thane resident, and Justin J (34).According to police, the altercation began in the parking lot of Terminal 1 in Vile Parle, where Mahanto had dropped off a passenger and was waiting to pick up another. A fellow cab driver, Justin, asked him to vacate the area, which led to a scuffle. As more cabbies gathered in support of Justin, Mahanto tried to flee the an unexpected twist, Justin stepped in front of Mahanto's Ertiga and ended up on the bonnet. Instead of stopping, Mahanto accelerated, and Justin was seen clinging onto the bonnet as the vehicle sped along the highway. A passing two-wheeler rider captured the stunning moment on camera — the video later went viral on social the clip, Justin can be seen holding onto the edges of the cab while seemingly talking to the rider filming the scene. Mahanto finally stopped near Jogeshwari, after driving about 6 km with Justin on the confirmed that a case has been registered against Mahanto for rash and negligent driving with the Airport police station. He was arrested and later released after being served a notice. His vehicle has also been seized. Justin, the driver who was on the bonnet, has filed a police complaint.A police officer stated, 'Mahanto was trying to flee when Justin hopped onto the bonnet of his car.' The incident, which could have ended in tragedy, is now under investigation.
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Indian Express
Delhi's jails set for a virtual makeover: Video conferencing cubicles to surge from 100 to 840
From 100 video conferencing cubicles at present to 840 in the coming month — the prison administration in Delhi is planning an expansion of the virtual meeting facility in the 16 central jails of the Capital within three prison complexes. The move, said officials, will not only help prisons in presenting inmates virtually before courts but also in arranging online meetings between inmates and their families and friends under the e-mulaqat initiative. At present, the three prison complexes in the Capital — Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini — have around 20,000 inmates, and approximately 2,000 inmates are produced in court every day. Inmates can be presented virtually before courts in a large number of hearings, according to officials. In some cases, where cross-examination is required, the inmates need to be presented before the court in person. The Delhi Armed Police, which is responsible for ferrying prisoners, has to ensure security arrangements every time the inmates have to be taken to courts. 'Enhanced videoconferencing facility will mean that costs can be saved,' an officer said. The official added, 'Work has already started and is likely to be completed within a month.' The expansion was earlier expected to be completed by May 30. But the installation will now take at least a month to lay down LAN (local area network) wires. Optical fibres already installed can only accommodate a maximum of 400 V-C systems, including those being used for official purposes within the office of the prison administration, according to officials aware of the matter. 'The procurement of computer systems has begun. After the tender is passed, the digging work will also begin to lay LAN wires. The survey is already done. Since 840 systems will be in use, the LAN wiring has to be expanded. The 840 cubicles will be spread across the 16 jails depending on the strength at each jail,' the official said. In the recent past, several high-profile inmates have sought the videoconferencing facility. Recently, 26/11 terror attack key conspirator Tahawwur Rana, who is currently in judicial custody in the city, moved an application to speak to his family members on the phone and through webconferencing. Last year, Aaftab Poonawala, accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, moved an application before the Saket court, requesting to allow all his court hearings through video conferencing due to a security threat. He moved an application days after one of the associates of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, arrested on charges of killing Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, had reportedly informed the Mumbai Police that they were planning to kill Aaftab.
New Indian Express
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Ram Kapoor plays OCD-afflicted detective in Mistry; teaser out
The series has been directed by Rishab Seth and also features Mona Singh and Shikha Talsania in pivotal roles. A teaser for the series was also shared by the makers on their social media handles which shows Ram as Armaan Mistry, a consultant to the Mumbai Police. He is brilliant at his job and has a eye for detail but is often awkward and ill at ease owing to his OCD.
