E-Paper
ED searches actor Dino Morea’s residence, 14 other premises
The Enforcement Directorate said searches were being carried out at the premises of contractors, middlemen, and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials in Mumbai and Kerala
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was on Friday conducting searches at actor Dino Morea’s residences and 14 other premises in Mumbai and Kerala as part of its probe into the alleged irregularities in contracts for Mithi River desilting in Maharashtra.
Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has questioned Morea over financial transactions his brother, Santino, had with the arrested accused Ketan Kadam. Kadam was among 13 people booked for allegedly causing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) a loss of ₹65.54 crore in the desilting project.
The EOW said BMC officials travelled to Kochi in October 2020 to buy desilting equipment from Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd and floated tenders inviting bids for desilting. The specifications for machines matched Matprop’s equipment, essentially forcing contractors to use its machines. The tenders said the BMC would pay contractors according to the weight of the silt and dredge removed from the river.
The investigation started when EOW set up a special investigation team in August 2024 after Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Prasad Lad and Pravin Darekar raised questions in the state legislative council about alleged irregularities in desilting the 17.84-km-long river.
EOW said BMC officials allegedly fudged records to increase the amount of silt to be removed from the river to benefit the contractors.
ED said searches were being carried out at the premises of contractors, middlemen, and BMC officials in Mumbai and Kerala’s Kochi.
