Mithi River desilting fraud: ED searches properties of five contractors

The searches were conducted at the properties of contractors who had allegedly submitted bogus documents to the BMC related to silt dumping work, officials said.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted searches in Mumbai at eight properties of civic contractors as part of its money laundering investigation into the alleged irregularities in contracts to desilt the Mithi River, according to officials aware of the developments.

Mumbai, India. June 30, 2025: View of the polluted Mithi River at the Powai area of Mumbai. The Mithi River flows through Salsette Island, which is part of the city of Mumbai. Mumbai, India. June 3, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)

The searches were conducted at the properties of five contractors who had allegedly submitted bogus documents to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) related to silt dumping work, officials said. The investigation is based on an FIR registered by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in May, in which 13 people and entities were booked for allegedly causing the BMC a wrongful loss of ₹65.54 crore.

Earlier, on June 6, the ED had carried out searches at 18 locations across Mumbai, Kochi and Thrissur in connection with the investigation. The locations searched included the residential and/or office premises of actor Dino Morea and his businessman brother Santino Morea, BMC engineer Prashant Ramgude, civic contractor Bhupendra Purohit, alleged intermediaries Jay Joshi and Ketan Kadam, and Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd, a Kochi-based company that rented machinery and equipment for the desilting work.

The ED had also questioned the Morea brothers in June, claiming they were associates of alleged intermediary Kadam. The brothers have denied all the allegations of their involvement in the case.

On June 7, the ED said that its investigation and search operations had, prima facie, indicated that the accused people and others allegedly colluded to form a cartel intending to manipulate BMC’s tenders related to desilting the Mithi River.

“This action effectively conferred a monopoly in [the] award of desilting contracts of Mithi River and caused payments at inflated rates for desilting works, resulting in undue gains to the contractors and associated parties, thereby causing financial loss to the public exchequer,” the agency had said in a statement. These undue financial gains were concealed by layering them through certain shell companies by the accused persons and others, the agency added.

So far, during its searches, the ED has seized ₹7 lakh in cash and frozen 22 bank accounts/fixed deposits and a demat account. The total amount seized or frozen is more than ₹1.25 crore. Certain digital devices and incriminating documents were also seized that appeared to be relevant for further proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, according to the ED.