MUMBAI: A 7,000-page charge-sheet has been submitted against two alleged middlemen involved in the Mithi River desilting fraud. Police said the charge-sheet also names deputy chief engineers Prashant Ramgude and Ganesh Bendre of the storm water drains department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and civic official Prashant Tayshete.
“We have submitted a charge-sheet of more than 7,000 pages before the EOW (Economic Offences Wing) court. The court is yet to take cognisance of the chargesheet,” said a police officer, adding that around 15 people have been cited as witnesses.
The charge-sheet was submitted by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police in the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court on Friday.
The case relates to a ₹65.54-crore fraud that involves the manipulation of tenders to favour certain middlemen, in the desilting of the Mithi River.
“Our evidence in the charge-sheet is primarily receipts, statements, air-ticket copies of foreign trips of BMC officers, which show how the two arrested accused middlemen, who acted as middlemen, sponsored foreign trips for BMC officials. These middlemen are Ketan Kadam, director of Woder India LLP, a Mumbai-based company that provides desilting services, and Jayesh Joshi, who is associated with Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based industrial products manufacturer. The middlemen then got contracts to supply equipment to the contractors at inflated rates. The equipment was then supplied to the BMC,” said a police officer.
Police have charged the accused under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 474 (possessing a forged document or electronic record with the intention of using it as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Police said that prima facie investigations show that Kadam and Joshi, who acted as middleman in the desilting scam, had together received ₹9 crore.
Kadam and Joshi are among 13 people named in the First Information Report (FIR). Investigators have questioned all 13 accused including actor Dino Morea and his brother, but have made only two arrests so far. These are Ketan Kadam and Jayesh Joshi, both of whom are out on bail.
“We have kept the option of further investigations open under section 193 (3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), for further investigations in the charge-sheet,” said the police officer.
The FIR was registered in May, against 13 people, including three civic officials, for allegedly causing a loss of ₹65.54 crore to the BMC through irregularities in the execution of contracts for desilting the Mithi River.
The FIR also names senior executives of the contractors involved in the desilting project, such as Matprop Technical Services, Virgo Specialties, Woder India, Acute Designs, Kailash Construction Company, NA Constructions, Nikhil Constructions and JRS Infrastructure.
The alleged scam took place between 2013 and 2023, officials said. A special investigation team (SIT) was constituted in August 2024 after questions were raised in the state legislative council about alleged irregularities in the desilting of the 17.84-km-long river.