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.
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.