Former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar and Additional Commissioner P Velarasu of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the body bags fraud case that occurred during the Covid-19 outbreak in Mumbai.
Velarasu has been called on November 7, and Pednekar has been instructed to appear before the ED’s Mumbai office on November 8.
A prominent member of Shiv Sena (UBT), Pednekar served as Mumbai’s mayor in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ED is looking into claims of money laundering, corruption, and anomalies in the expensive corpse bags that were purchased for Covid-19 victims.
The claims state that the BMC paid Rs 6,700 for each body bag used to hold the deceased of people who died from COVID-19, even though the bags were only supposed to cost Rs 1,500.
Pednekar’s involvement in the acquisition of the bodybags from a contractor was previously brought up by the ED.
An FIR was filed at the Agripada police station earlier in August, and it was later forwarded to the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offenses Wing.
EOW officers called Pednekar and questioned him about the case; Velarasu and another BMC official were also booked.
A complaint was filed against Pednekar and the two Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officers under a number of Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections, including 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating).
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