Role of senior officials, private builder being probed for land deals
The SIT has initiated three separate preliminary enquiries into workings of the BMC
The special investigation team (SIT) of the Economic Offences Wing has collected various documents from the headquarters of the civic body as part of its probe into the alleged Rs 12,500-crore scam in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “As part of the ongoing inquiry, we are conducting a document inspection based on the findings in the CAG report,” Joint Commissioner (EOW) Nishit Mishra said.
The SIT has initiated three separate preliminary enquiries (PEs) in accordance with the directives of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, issued last month. The dedicated team operates under the leadership of Mishra and Mumbai Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar.
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The state government had received a complaint from BJP MLA Ameet Satam, based on CAG reports highlighting irregularities in several BMC departments. Taking cognisance of the report, the government instructed the Mumbai commissioner of police to form a SIT to probe the matter further.
The first of the PEs focuses on the tenders that were issued as per procedure, but the agreement was not done for the completion of work. The second aspect being probed by the EOW pertains to the third-party audit which the BMC failed to comply with. The third PE centres on land acquisition, which was carried out but experienced unnecessary delays, leading to escalated costs.
“We have uncovered serious criminal negligence concerning the land acquisition process and the issuance of tenders without adhering to due process. A thorough investigation is underway before the registration of the FIR,” said a SIT member. According to sources, the BMC acquired a piece of land in Dahisar around 10 years ago, initially costing around Rs 2-3 crore. However, due to significant delays in the acquisition process, the cost skyrocketed to a staggering Rs 250-300 crore.
“The amount that has escalated in just 10 years is beyond imagination. Usually, prices may increase 10-20 times, but not to this extent,” said an officer familiar with the investigation. The involvement of senior BMC officials and a private builder in land acquisition (specifically in Dahisar) is being scrutinised. Investigators suspect that similar instances of price escalation may have occurred with other lands due to deliberate delays in the acquisition process. The EOW has stated that
the total scam related to land acquisition amounts to approximately Rs 4,500 crore of the R12,500 crore BMC scam.
In October 2021, the Urban Development Department had requested the Accountant General (Audit)-I, Maharashtra, for a special audit of 76 identified works whose cost amounted to Rs 12,023.88 crore, as executed by nine departments of the BMC between November 28, 2019, and October 31, 2022. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India assented to the special audit and moved to start on November 14, 2022.
However, an audit of the work related to COVID was excluded from the report as the BMC issued a legal notice to CAG on November 17 to not proceed with any audit of any acts/works/decisions taken with regard to COVID management/expenditure that cost R3,538.73 crore. The notice referred to the civic body’s interpretation of provisions of the Epidemic Act, 1897, and Disaster Management Act, 2005. The BMC didn’t cooperate with CAG and hence the COVID scam, which is expected to be around R4,000 crore, is excluded from the report.
Rs 4k cr
Value of COVID scam that hasn’t been probed
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