Rs10.56-crore road scam: HC grants bail to contractor
The defense argued that the applicant, Dipan Shah, a director and head of the human resource department, was not fully involved in the scam as he didn’t sign any of the documents. The judge released Shah on a bail bond of Rs2 lakh and ordered him to visit Azad Maidan police on the first of every month
The Bombay high court granted bail to a contractor affiliated with Relcon Infrastructure on Thursday after the defense argued that the applicant, Dipan Shah, a director and head of the human resource department, was not fully involved in the scam as he didn’t sign any of the documents.
The judge released Shah on a bail bond of Rs2 lakh and ordered him to visit Azad Maidan police on the first of every month.
Read: BMC plans to geo tag all roads to monitor repairs
The defense claimed that the accused has been and will be co-operating with the police investigation. Shah also claimed that they had already paid the penalty of Rs90.70 lakh as demanded by civic officials for the Rs10.56-crore fraud as per the FIR.
The court will hear the bail pleas of the other contractors — KR Construction, J Kumar Infraprojects, RPS Infraprojects, RK Madhani, Mahavir Infraprojects and Relcon Infraproject — on September 27.
A source from J Kumar Infraprojects said, “Of the Rs10.56-crore fraud according to the FIR, all the contractors have paid a fine of Rs90.70 lakh. The contractors have paid the deposit already and the BMC can always use the retention money.”
Read: Mumbai civic body to hold engineers accountable for all road repairs
Last year, BMC chief Ajoy Mehta had ordered an inquiry into the road works after he received a confidential letter from mayor Snehal Ambekar alleging malpractices.
While inspecting 14 roads from the island city, 11 from western suburbs and nine from the eastern suburbs, the BMC-appointed inquiry team found several irregularities in road repair and reconstruction work stated the FIR. Taking note of the findings, Mehta suspended two chief engineers, blacklisted six contractors and two third-party auditors.
The case was registered in April at Azad Maidan police station and the complaint is being probed by an ACP-level officer. The FIR has been registered under sections 120 (A) (criminal conspiracy), 197 (producing false documents), 420 (cheating), 464 (making a false document), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged) of the Indian Penal Code.
