Ex-mayor, civic officials pulled off scam worth Rs 49.63L: EOW’s FIR

The Enforcement Directorate ED has obtained details and documents from the Mumbai Policersquos Economic Offences Wing EOW regarding alleged corruption involving Shiv Sena UBT member and former mayor Kishori Pednekar as well as senior civic officials in connection with the purchase of body bags meant for COVID victimsIt is likely that the ED will initiate a fresh moneylaundering case related to the COVID19 jumbo centre scam Last week the EOW booked Pednekar and senior BMC officials under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including cheating criminal conspiracy and breach of trust by government officials for purchasing body bags at inflated rates from Vendanta Innotech Pvt Ltd VIPLThe FIR states that BMC officials purchased 1200 body bags since 2020 costing around Rs 80 lakh The fraud amounting to approximately R4963 lakh was allegedly committed by the officials under the instructions of the former mayor Officials suspect that there might have been significant kickbacks involved from Vendanta as regular BMC hospitals procured the body bags at a lower cost The case was filed based on a complaint from former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya with EOW officer API Arjun Padwale serving as the complainantAccording to the FIR the case was registered based on a comprehensive preliminary enquiry PE conducted by the EOW During this investigation the EOW discovered that in April 2020 the BMC had initiated an expression of interest EOI1 to procure 1000 body bags for deceased COVID19 patients After reviewing documents and testing a sample body bag VIPL was identified as the qualified vendor and the BMC subsequently awarded it the purchase order for 1000 body bags at the rate of R6719 per bag VIPL successfully delivered the bags to the civic bodySubsequently the BMC issued another Expression of Interest EOI2 for additional body bag supply and once again VIPL emerged as the sole eligible vendor However BMC decided to open a fresh tender process for EOI3 Two bidders qualified Care One Solutions which initially quoted Rs 2610 per bag and later settled for Rs 2583 and VIPL which initially quoted R3939 and eventually settled for R2610 BMC officials then conducted sample testing in accordance with standard operating procedures confirming the eligibility of both vendorsThe FIR further states that Care One Solutions was identified as L1 During this period Pednekar allegedly summoned Haridas Rathod who held additional charge of deputy dean of the BMCs central purchase department CPD to her residence at Rani Bagh Byculla instructing him verbally to award the work to VIPL Rathod then went to the thenDMC CPD claiming that Pednekar suggested issuing the purchase order in favour of L1 Care One Solutions Consequently on May 15 2020 the purchase order for 1000 body bags was issued to L1An initial batch of 200 body bags intended to be delivered to Andheri Sports Complex was allegedly refused by the BMC without valid reasons Simultaneously due to the unlawful directives of the thenadditional municipal commissioner Projects AMCP and the thenDMC CPD according to the FIR the samples submitted during the EOI process were retested and declared unfit on May 18 2020The FIR further states that until June 2020 an alternative supplier for body bags had not been finalised due to various reasons The BMC continued to procure body bags from VIPL at the rate of Rs 6719 per bag Between May 16 2020 and June 7 2023 the civic body purchased a total of 1200 body bags in four instalments amounting to a payment of Rs 8062800 to VIPL according to the FIR Before May 15 2020 Care One Solutions had supplied approximately 100 body bags to other BMCoperated hospitals at a significantly lower rate of Rs 2925 per bagThe alleged jumbo COVID scam which is being probed by the ED is estimated to be worth R4000 crore Sujit Patkar a close associate of Sanjay Raut and BMC doctor Kishore Bisure have been arrested in connection with itRs 4000 crWorth of jumbo centre lsquoscamrsquo