Mumbai, (UNI) A sessions court here has rejected the bail application of Shersingh M. Rathod, arrested for his alleged role in connection with the multi-crore Mithi River desilting scam.
The court in its order, a copy of which was made available today, observed that Rathod played an active role in the conspiracy along with co-accused Ketan Kadam, who allegedly used shell companies to route funds and helped set contract terms in collusion with BMC officials.
Rathod, proprietor of M/s Maindeep Enterprise, is accused of conspiring with Kadam to execute an MoU and agreement to hire machines despite M/s Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd not possessing the required machinery in January 2021.
He is also alleged to have prepared a fake MoU using forged signatures of deceased land owners for submission to the BMC, and of furnishing bills for dumping silt even though the project had not been carried out.
The scam, which allegedly involves multiple contractors and civic officials, is under active investigation by the Economic Offence Wing of the Mumbai police to trace the financial trail and identify beneficiaries of the siphoned funds.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is is also conducting a parallel probe on the alleged financial irregularities and corruption related to the river’s cleanup project Earlier ED had raided Bollywood actor Dino Morea’s residence and examined various records and documents related to the financial transaction of the actor and his s brother, Santino Morea, was for their possible links with the firm linked to the Mumbai multi-crore Mithi River desilting project and close links with the arrested accused Ketan Kadam of Vodar India Ltd.
One of the arrested accused Jay Joshi of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, was earlier granted bail by the session court after his bail plea was rejected by the local court. Joshi had supplied a machine, which he had imported from Netherlands for Rs 8 crores in March – April 2021 and was used in the project.
Court rejects bail plea of accused in Mithi river scam
