Middleman Paid for Flights, Hotel of BMC Officers: Court

The flight tickets and hotel expenses of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officers who visited Kerala and Delhi to inspect desilting machines were borne by Ketan Kadam, an alleged intermediary arrested in connection with the Mithi River desilting fraud, the sessions court noted on Saturday while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of co-accused Prashant Tayshete, a deputy chief engineer at the civic body.

- Revu Suresh

MUMBAI:

According to the detailed order copy, which was made available on Monday, the court said it was unbelievable that a high-ranking civic officer such as Tayshete was not aware of who was bearing the expenses of his official visits and stays in Kerala and Delhi.

"The criminal element of cheating lies here," observed the court. It added that Tayshete and other BMC officers worked hand-in-glove with Kadam to fix the terms and conditions of the tender for desilting machines so that they would benefit in the future.

Tayshete was among three BMC officers booked by the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in May for alleged irregularities in contracts awarded for desilting the Mithi River. These irregularities led to a loss of ₹65.54 crore for the BMC, the EOW said.