Mithi desilting: ED summons Dino Morea, freezes Rs 1.25-cr deposits, cash

At least eight persons, including actor Dino Morea, his brother and some Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning next week in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 65 crore worth Mithi river desilting “scam”, official sources said on Saturday.

The federal agency, in a statement, said it has frozen and seized cash and deposits worth Rs 1.25 after conducting searches at 18 locations in Mumbai in Maharashtra and Kochi and Thrissur in Kerala on Friday.

The sources said around eight to nine people, including Morea, his brother Santino Rocco Morea, some BMC officials and contractors, have been asked to appear before the agency in Mumbai on different dates next week.

Their statements will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) once they depose, they said.

The ED said the raids covered the office and residential premises linked to BMC engineer Prashant Ramgude, contractor Bhupendra Purohit, Kerala-based company Matprop Technical Service Pvt Ltd, director of Virgo Specialities Pvt Ltd Jay Joshi, controller of Woder India LLP Ketan Kadam, Dino Morea’s house in Bandra (West) area of Mumbai and that of his brother Santino.

The agency called the Morea brothers “close associates” of Kadam, an arrested alleged middleman in the case.

The money laundering case stems from a Mumbai Police economic offences wing (EOW) FIR filed in May against 13 persons, including contractors and civic officials, for an alleged Rs 65.54 crore scam in the tenders awarded from 2017-2023 for desilting of the Mithi river, which flows through Mumbai and acts as a stormwater drainage channel for the metro city.