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Time of India
8 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Court: Prima facie proof of Mithi tender manipulation
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 High Court. Tayshete submitted that he was consistently employed within the solid waste management department and held no responsibilities in the storm water drain department. The judge, however, said this claim lacked documentary support. — Rebecca Samervel 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. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo 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. 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.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Mithi River desilting fraud: Court refuses pre-arrest bail to BMC officer Prashant Tayshete
MUMBAI: A special court on Saturday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Prashant Tayshete, one of the three Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officers booked in connection with the alleged irregularities in executing contracts for desilting the Mithi River. The case involves alleged irregularities in executing contracts for desilting the Mithi River. (Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times) Special judge NG Shukla granted Tayshete, who works in the BMC's stormwater drains department, interim protection from arrest for two weeks to allow him to approach the high court for relief. It isn't clear why his anticipatory bail plea was rejected, as the detailed court order is not yet available. Tayshete was one of the 13 people and entities named in the FIR registered by the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for allegedly causing a loss of ₹ 65.54 crore to the BMC while executing contracts to desilt the Mithi River between 2013 and 2023. According to the EOW, Tayshete and two other accused BMC officers allegedly tailored the tender for the desilting contracts to benefit Kochi-based Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd, resulting in the company's monopoly over the contracts. When the BMC's contractors approached Matprop for desilting equipment, they were directed to approach alleged intermediaries Jay Joshi and Ketan Kadam, according to the EOW. The duo, in connivance with senior Matprop executives, allegedly rented the machines at inflated rates. The accused also allegedly fudged records to increase the amount of silt to be removed from the Mithi River to benefit certain contractors and the rates they were supposed to be paid. Tayshete had moved the court seeking protection from arrest on May 19. His counsel, advocate Vaibhav Punekar, submitted that Tayshete looked after stormwater drainage and was only involved in desilting a minor portion of the river, along with transporting the sludge removed for disposal. Punekar also told the court that Tayshete had no knowledge about the alleged fraud related to renting desilting machines. During his visit to Kerala, he was only tasked with machine demonstration work and submitted a report regarding that, Tayshete claimed in his plea. He was not connected with any forged memorandums of understanding and has not received any money related to the concerned work, the plea said. Requesting pre-arrest bail, Tayshete's lawyer argued that his client was a retired BMC officer who cannot influence any witnesses and tamper with any documents. He added that no case of cheating, forgery or conspiracy can be made out against him. Earlier this month, the court had granted bail to Joshi, saying there is no evidence to show that he was an alleged intermediary involved in compelling contractors to hire machines at inflated rates.
