Mumbai: A sessions court recently granted bail to a contractor who was arrested last Aug in the Rs 65-crore Mithi river desilting scam case as it rejected arguments that silt was not removed.City police’s economic offences wing claimed that the contractor, Shersingh Rathod, only transported debris and not silt, but the judge found that the scope of work explicitly included the removal of debris, stones and vegetation as well. “[It] clearly discloses that the work was not restricted only to remove silt, but debris in the riverbed was also included for removal. Hence, prima facie, I do not find substance in the submission that silt was not removed,” said additional sessions judge N G Shukla. The court said witness statements showed transport vehicles of Rathod’s company used to go to dump sites and they received various amounts for unloading debris. “Statements of [a witness] show 20% silt was also dumped… It becomes clear the transport vehicles dumped debris as well as silt.” The judge noted that Rathod was not part of the conspiracy allegedly hatched by co-accused Ketan Kadam, CEO of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd with BMC officials. “The chargesheet has been filed, but the main email correspondence between the applicant and other co-accused has not been made part of it.” The judge observed that Rathod was compelled to approach Virgo Specialties “for taking the machines on huge rent and to pay the rent on different accounts suggested by co-accused Ketan Kadam”. According to the prosecution, Rathod, Kadam, three BMC officials and other contractors manipulated the procurement and operation of specialised desilting equipment intended for the project, and that Rathod forged the signature of a deceased landowner to misrepresent available dumping sites to BMC. The allegations extend to large-scale document fabrication, including the submission of forged logsheets and invoices to justify payments for desilting work that was never undertaken. The prosecution alleged that contrary to the submitted records, no silt was actually extracted from the river or transported to the designated dumping grounds, rendering the entire operation a fraudulent enterprise. The judge observed that the digital trail indicated Rathod had been pressured into these arrangements.
