Explainer: What is the ₹65 crore Mithi River desilting scam, and how is actor Dino Morea linked to this?
Actor Dino Morea and his brother Santino are being questioned by Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Monday for the duo’s alleged role in the ₹65 crore Mithi River desilting scam, police officials said.
Mumbai Police said that the Housefull 5 actor and his brother's link to the primary accused, Ketan Kadam, was discovered after officials found multiple phone conversations between them.
What is the Mithi River desilting scam? Earlier this month, authorities filed a case against 13 individuals, including contractors and municipal officials, in connection with a purported ₹65 crore scam involving the desilting of the Mithi River that runs through the city.
It is claimed that officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) manipulated the tender for the desilting contract to favor a specific machinery supplier.
Additionally, the contractors allegedly created fake invoices for the transportation of sludge out of Mumbai. According to police reports, the civic body incurred losses exceeding ₹65.54 crore as a result of this scam. The EOW recently arrested two accused in the case- Ketan Kadam and Jayesh Joshi.
What are the charges against Morea? Ex-model Dino Morea, who was seen in Netflix’s ‘The Royals’ recently, came into the spotlight during the police investigation into call records and financial dealings associated with Kadam. Authorities stated that the evidence discovered so far is under further examination.
Details about the scam: The EOW has reported irregularities amounting to Rs 65 crore involving officials from the BMC, a firm from Kerala, and Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi, who lease out silt pusher machines, in a contract for desilting the Mithi river. It is claimed that a group of BMC officials visited the facility of Matprop, a Kerala-based company that specialises in desilting and dredging equipment. Subsequently, BMC issued tenders with specifications that precisely matched Matprop's machines, effectively requiring any contractor bidding for the tender to purchase or rent equipment from the Kerala firm.
The investigation has uncovered that when a BMC official approached Matprop to acquire the machines, he was referred to intermediaries Kadam and Joshi, who lease such equipment. They initially demanded Rs 8 crore for a two-year rental agreement for the silt pusher and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines, but ultimately settled on Rs 4 crore.
It is alleged that BMC officials, representatives from Matprop, and Kadam and Joshi conspired to execute this scheme. Additionally, the desilting rate was increased from the standard Rs 1,609 per metric tonne to Rs 2,193 per metric tonne for these machines.
When the BMC's vigilance department raised concerns, the original rate was reinstated. The investigation revealed that the officials disbursed Rs 17 crore to the contractors, who allegedly created fraudulent invoices for the removal of sludge from Mumbai.
As many as 13 people have been charged in this case, including Matprop's Dipak Mohan and Kishore Menon, while only Kadam and Joshi have been arrested.
Morea’s professional front: He will be seen sharing the screen in ‘Housefull 5’, which is scheduled to be released on June 6. The film, directed by Tarun Mansukhani, also stars Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, and Johny Lever.