Actor Dino Morea to appear before ED in ₹65 crore Mithi river desilting case

Actor Dino Morea is set to appear before the Enforcement Directorate next week in relation to the Mithi river desilting probe, reported ANI.

On Friday, ED conducted searches at the premises of Dino Morea, some BMC officials, contractors and some others in connection with the money laundering probe over an alleged Mithi river desilting scam worth ₹65 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), PTI reported, citing people aware of the development.

Searches were conducted in 15 locations across Mumbai and Kochi. This covers Dino Morea's property in the Bandra (West) area of Mumbai, associated with his brother Santino, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, contractors, and a few others, the report said. ED investigated locations in Kochi as one of the companies that supplied desilting equipment to the BMC – Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd is situated in this city.

The ED case against the Bollywood actor originates from an FIR filed by the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in May. The FIR charged 13 individuals, including contractors and civic officials over ₹65.54 crore scam involving tenders awarded from 2017 to 2023 for the desilting of the Mithi river, a stormwater drainage channel for Mumbai.

The complaint alleged that BMC officials structured the tender to benefit a particular machinery supplier, while contractors reportedly produced fake bills to transport the sludge out of Mumbai.

Economic Offences Wing interrogation

Last month, the Mumbai Police EOW interrogated Morea and his brother regarding this case. They were questioned by the police regarding links with alleged middleman Ketan Kadam, who is arrested along with Jai Joshi, another accused.

Kadam and Joshi were engaged in renting out 'silt pusher' machines and multi-purpose amphibious pontoon machines to contractors who were desilting the Mithi river, the report said citing police.

2021 money laundering case

However, this is not the first time Dino Morea has been questioned by the ED. In 2021, Morea's assets were attached to a money laundering case linked to an alleged case of bank fraud involving Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech and its promoters.

(With inputs from agencies)