Photo: Collected
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police has questioned Bollywood actor Dino Morea for a second time over alleged irregularities in the Mithi river desilting project. He was questioned on Friday.
Earlier, in May 2025, Dino Morea and his brother Santino Rocco Morea were also questioned in this case.
Police said Dino Morea was summoned after phone records showed information on his contact with several people linked to the case. A police officer said the investigators questioned him only after getting the information on that contact.
Police further said Dino Morea and his brother Santino Rocco Morea, and Punita Kadam, wife of arrested accused Ketan Kadam, were directors of a private firm, UBO Ridez Private Limited. The matter of financial transactions between Ketan Kadam and Santino Rocco Morea is being investigated. At the same time, the investigators are also looking into how Ketan Kadam’s desilting firm Woder India LLP got the work contract of Mumbai’s civic body.
Ketan Kadam was arrested in this case on 7 May. A case has been filed against a total of 13 people on the charge of causing a loss of Rs 65.54 crore to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the Mithi river desilting project, in which allegations of financial irregularities, inflating the tender value and corruption are being investigated.
Meanwhile, the EOW has also arrested Jayesh Joshi, who is associated with a Mumbai-based industrial goods manufacturing firm named Virgo Specialities Private Limited.
The investigators said that in October 2020 several BMC officials went to Matprop Technical Services Private Limited in Kochi, Kerala, to buy desilting equipment. Later, the specifications of the machinery given in the tender floated for desilting matched Matprop’s equipment. According to the investigators, this created scope for the contractors to be compelled to use that firm’s machinery.
The tender said the BMC would pay the contractors on the basis of the weight of the silt and dredge removed from the river. Police said that when the contractors contacted Matprop, they were told to go to Jayesh Joshi and Ketan Kadam. It is alleged that, in collusion with the firm, they used to supply the equipment to the contractors at excessive rent instead of selling it.
The EOW formed a special investigation team in August 2024 after BJP leaders Prasad Lad and Pravin Darekar raised allegations of irregularities in the desilting of a 17.84-kilometre stretch of the Mithi river.
EOW officials said the investigation has revealed that the civic body’s documents were manipulated to inflate the quantity of silt to be removed from the river, which created scope for the contractors to get more money.
