Mumbai: Rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of BMC officer Prashant Ramugade, an accused in the multi-crore Mithi river desilting scam, the sessions court said that it was his duty to monitor and control the site activities and check on the desilting progress.
However, he did not perform the tasks and was allowed to pass the bills submitted by the contractors despite no actual transportation and dumping of silt, the court added. It underlined that the officer and the other accused were hand in glove.
“His responsibility is very high compared to other officers related to the project. He has been related with the project since 2014 when he was working as a sub-engineer and thereafter as an assistant engineer in the storm water drain (SWD) department,” judge NG Shukla observed.
Ramugade had claimed that in 2019, he was appointed as designated officer for the Mithi river desilting. However, he argued that he had no power to finalise terms and conditions of the tenders and to invite or approve tenders. It is further submitted that it was not Ramugade’s duty to vet the memorandum of understandings (MOUs) between contractors and owners of the dumping sites, which were submitted by the former, his lawyer asserted.
Objecting to the contention, public prosecutor Chaitrali Panshikar pointed out the officer's long association with the project since 2012. It was further said that Ramugade was appointed as designated officer in September 2019 and since then, he was handling the process of preparing draft tenders, issuing and approving the tenders following the nod of higher officers.
Being a designated officer, it was his duty to verify the MOUs submitted by contractors, said the prosecution, claiming that the documents were forged bearing signatures of purported land owners. Ramugade neither visited dumping sites nor checked photos of transport lorries uploaded by the contractors before passing the bills, the prosecution had argued.
It continued that the probe revealed that Ramugade’s friend Sarika Kamdar, Sachin Mayker (friend of co-accused Ketan Kadam) and Kiran Rajpurohit were partners of M/s. Groupo Solutions, which is beneficiary of Rs41.94 lakh received from various contractors.
Kamdar, in her statement to the investigating officer, stated that she gave consent to become partner of Groupo Solutions upon Ramugade insistence. This shows the officer's involvement in conspiracy to cause wrongful loss to BMC, the prosecution underscored.
The court noted that the officer was a part of the team which visited Delhi and Kerala to check the machines. The trip expenses were borne by Ketan Kadam of M/s Virgo Specialties. Hence, they were all hand in gloves with Kadam, the court said.
It pointed out that he also proposed to increase rates of drawing and transporting silt and waste material per metric tonne without any foundation. Hence, estimated measurement was prepared by Ramugade and other officers with a view to compel the contractors to use the machines, the court reasoned.
It appears that the officer had very well-established relations with co-accused Ketan Kadam as M/s Groupo Solutions was formed by the former's friend of the applicant along with others, the judge said.
