Mumbai, Jul 31 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted fresh searches in Mumbai as part of a money laundering probe linked to the alleged Rs 65 crore Mithi river desilting scam, official sources said.
About eight premises of some contractors, who reportedly submitted “false” MoUs to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with regard to dumping of silt, are being covered in the city, the sources said.
The ED earlier carried out raids in this case, including on the premises of actor Dino Morea, his brother Santino, certain contractors and companies apart from some BMC officials.
The ED case stems from an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police in May against 13 people, including contractors and civic officials, for an alleged Rs 65.54 crore scam in the tenders awarded from 2017-2023 for the desilting of Mithi river, which flows through Mumbai and acts as a stormwater drainage channel for the metro city.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led undivided Shiv Sena controlled the cash-rich 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 Maharashtra government, which was then headed by Eknath Shinde.
Police alleged in their complaint that BMC officials tailored the tender for the desilting contract in such a way that it benefited a particular supplier of machinery, and the contractors reportedly generated fraudulent bills for transporting the sludge out of Mumbai.
The EOW and ED earlier questioned Morea and his brother, apart from some others.
Mumbai civic authorities planned the desilting of the river following the 2005 floods, which brought the city to a grinding halt. PTI NES ARI
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