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Mithi River desilting scam: Actor Dino Morea, others summoned by ED next week for questioning

Actor Dino Morea’s Bandra residence was among the 15 locations where the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches on Friday as part of its probe into the alleged Mithi River desilting scam.

Dino Morea was questioned twice last month by the EOW Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Morea was questioned twice last month by the EOW Special Investigation Team (SIT). (File Photo)

A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at several locations in Mumbai, including actor Dino Morea’s residence, the agency on Saturday summoned him and seven others for questioning next week in the Mithi River desilting scam case.

The ED searches were held at more than 15 locations, including the residences and offices of the 13 BMC officers, contractors, and middlemen named as accused in the FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police last month.

Searches were also held at the Bandra (West) residence of Morea, a close friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray. Morea was questioned twice last month by the EOW Special Investigation Team (SIT).

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The EOW had booked the 13 accused for allegedly causing wrongful loss to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) worth more than Rs 65.54 crore. Based on the EOW’s predicate offence, the ED last month registered an Enforcement Case Information Report and began a money laundering investigation.

The Mithi River is an 18.64-km seasonal river with residential slum pockets and industrial patches alongside it. It plays the role of a natural stormwater drainage channel for Mumbai, carrying excess water during the monsoon. But, over the years, it has been used by residents to dump garbage, sewage, and industrial waste, polluting it to a significant level.

After the 2005 Mumbai floods, the authorities realised the issues with the Mithi River, and the government put in efforts to clean the sludge from the riverbed to ensure uninterrupted water flow. It has been alleged that massive corruption occurred in the desilting work sanctioned and carried out by the BMC.

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