In a significant development in Mumbai’s Mithi River dredging corruption case, the EOW submitted its second supplementary chargesheet—spanning a staggering 7,000 pages—to the Kila Court at Esplanade on Wednesday. The filing implicates arrested contractors Mahesh Purohit and Sunil Upadhyay, backed by statements from 39 eyewitnesses and key informants.
According to probe details, the duo masterminded the creation of forged agreements in farmers’ names to obtain approvals for waste dumping sites. These sham MoUs were then used to process illicit payments under the guise of legitimate silt removal operations from the vital Mithi River.
The decade-long racket, spanning 2013-2023, involved BMC drainage officials in cahoots with unscrupulous contractors. They allegedly rigged the system with counterfeit documents to greenlight bogus bills, siphoning off crores meant for urban flood control. Purohit and Upadhyay’s arrests in December marked a turning point, exposing deeper systemic rot.
This follows the EOW’s earlier chargesheet against Rathore of Mandeep Enterprises, complete with fabricated weighment slips and log records. The project, touted as a lifeline against monsoons, delivered zero actual dredging despite massive payouts. Mumbai Police first flagged the anomalies via an SIT before handing over to specialists.
As Mumbai battles recurring floods, this scandal underscores the perils of unchecked civic contracts. With evidence piling up, the judiciary’s scrutiny could lead to high-profile convictions, restoring some faith in public works governance. Stay tuned as more revelations emerge from this multi-crore fraud.