Two days after registering an FIR in connection with the fraud in the contracts related to setting up oxygen plants during Covid-19 and causing a loss of Rs 6 crore to the civic body by fraudulent means, Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Friday arrested Ghatkopar-based contractor Romin Chheda of M/s Highway Construction Company.
Besides Chheda, unknown officials of BMC are also accused in the case. Chheda was grilled for eight-hours on Thursday and was called again for questioning on Friday. After he did not cooperate with the probe he was placed under arrest. A senior EOW officer confirmed the development to The Indian Express.
Chheda was arrested under sections 418, 465, 467, 468, 471, 218, 120(b), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. EOW officials would produce him in the court on Saturday and seek his custody for custodial interrogation.
Chheda, who runs cloth stores, was earlier raided by ED in July this year in connection with the alleged irregularities in the oxygen plant contracts while probing other matters.
He is an authorized representative of Highway Construction Company, which was also penalized in the Byculla Zoo Penguin Enclosure scam, sources said.
As per the EOW’s FIR, the alleged offences related to oxygen plants were committed between April 2021 and January 2022 at the Municipal Workshop in Byculla-East and at the site of the oxygen generation plants on the premises of nine hospitals of BMC — V N Desai Hospital, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, GTB Hospital, Kasturba Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital, R N Cooper Hospital, K B Bhabha Hospital, KEM Hospital and ATMG Sion Hospital.
As per the police complaint, during the preliminary investigation it was found that the officials concerned of the BMC, who were looking after the works of contracts 1 and 2 (contracts for the construction of an oxygen generation plant in the Municipal Hospital and Jumbo Covid Centre), overlooked the eligibility rules while awarding contracts.
On behalf of Highway Construction Company, Unissi India Pvt., the original manufacturer, did not fulfil the quality eligibility criteria. Despite this contract was awarded to the Highway Construction Company. The accused, Romin Chheda, who had the power of attorney for Highway Construction Company, allegedly connived with other accused for the said offence.
“While the construction of the oxygen generation plant was not completed within the prescribed period mentioned in the contract, it was shown that the work on the plants was completed in August 2021. Also, fake ‘heading over’ and ‘taking over’ reports were made, and for the same limited period, they also allegedly fraudulently charged a late fee, thus causing a wrongful loss of Rs 6 crore to the civic body,” states the FIR.
The work was to be completed in 30 days or the contractor was to be fined 1 per cent of the contract amount for every week of delay. He was even fined Rs 3.16 crore for the same. But a probe revealed that the civic officials should have collected another Rs 6 crore as penalty from the contractor, an EOW official said.
Vijay Kumar YadavVijay Kumar Yadav, is a Special Correspondent with 15 years of experie… read more