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TMI BlogFIR filed in Mithi river desilting 'scam'; BMC suffered Rs 65 crore loss: PoliceX X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... FIR filed in Mithi river desilting 'scam'; BMC suffered Rs 65 crore loss: Police X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ove is seen as a setback to Shiv Sena (UBT). The Uddhav Thackeray-led undivided Shiv Sena controlled the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from 1997 till the party's split in 2022. After the expiry of the general body in 2022, the civic body was controlled by the state government which was then headed by Eknath Shinde. It is alleged that BMC officials tailored the tender for the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... desilting contract in such a way that it benefitted a particular supplier of machinery needed for the work. Further, the contractors generated fraudulent bills for transporting sludge out of Mumbai, the police claimed. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Mumbai's former mayor Kishori Pednekar said action should be taken against whoever is guilty. "Take action against favourite contractors," Pednekar sa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... id in a dig at Shinde. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of officials from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) registered a First Information Report (FIR) against 13 persons, including five contractors, three middlemen, and two company officials, at the Azad Maidan police station, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sangramsingh Nishandar. The BMC suffered a loss of more than Rs 65.54 crore due to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the irregularity, he said. The contracts were awarded between the period of 2017 to 2023, he said. Accused Dipak Mohan and Kishore Menon of Matprop offered 'silt pusher' and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines to the BMC costing Rs 3.09 crore. A team of BMC officials visited the plant in Kerala, and subsequently the BMC floated tenders with the exact same specifications, so that any contra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ctor would be required to buy or hire only Matprop machines, as per the investigation. "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," said DCP Nishandar. According to the official, the BMC officials and contractors hatched a conspi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... racy and made maximum use of those machines at an escalated rate. Earlier, the rate for normal desilting was Rs 1,609 per metric ton, but for those machines it was increased to Rs 2,193 per metric tonnes, he said, adding the vigilance department of the BMC had objected to that rate, following which they went with the earlier rate. The officials also made a payment of Rs 17.07 crore to the contra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ctors, he said. The BMC officials, along with the contractors, also forged weighbridge and log sheets, which were used to dump sludge. Many times the receipts for dumping the sludge were handwritten and were not computerised, the official said adding there was no sign on it also, he said. Further, the contractors produced nine Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the owners of land in neigh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bouring Bhiwandi and Panvel in Navi Mumbai where they claimed that the sludge removed from the river would be transported and dumped. But the probe revealed that the signatures of some of the land owners were forged. In some cases, the MoUs were signed with persons who did not own any land. In one case, the 'land owner' had died 20 years ago. The SIT also found that a piece of land where sludge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was supposed to be dumped actually had row-houses on it. Acute Designs, Kailash Construction Company, N A Construction, Nikhil Construction and JRS Infrastructure are accused of submitting bogus MoUs. The BMC officials named as accused were identified as Deputy Chief Engineer Prashant Ramgude, Ganesh Bendre and Tayshette. Besides, Dipak Mohan, Kishore Menon, Jai Joshi, Ketan Kadam and Bhupendra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Purohit are also named in the FIR.
Further probe is on, DCP Nishandar said. PTI DC PR ARU KRK NP X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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