MUMBAI, Aug. 11 -- Businessmen Ketan Kadam and Jay Joshi, arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police in connection with the Rs.65.54-crore Mithi river desilting fraud, indirectly decided who would get contracts from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to desilt the river, according to the charge sheet filed by the investigating agency earlier this month. Kadam, director of Woder India LLP, a Mumbai-based company that provides desilting services, and Jay, associated with Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based industrial products manufacturer, connived with BMC officials to insert clauses in desilting contracts that favoured certain bidders. The clauses pertained to the requirement of specific machines manufactured by the Ernakulam-based Matprop Services, whose Maharashtra dealership was held by Virgo Specialities. Both Kadam and Joshi were named in the charge sheet filed by the EOW, alongside civic officials Prashant Ramugade, Ganesh Bendre and Prashant Tayshette, Matprop Services directors Deepak Mohan, Kishor Menon and Bhupendra and eight others. Maindeep Enterprises, Tanisha Enterprise and Acute Design were awarded contracts to desilt the river in 2021-22 due to the interventions of Kadam and Joshi, the charge sheet said. During investigation, the EOW found that Tanisha Enterprises obtained the work order using a forged and fabricated tripartite agreement dated January 15, 2021 with Matprop Services and Virgo Specialities . Bipin Shah, a partner in Trans Conduct India, the second lowest bidder for the contract after Tanisha Enterprises, told the EOW that the rate quoted by his firm was 13.39 % lower than the base price. When bids were opened on January 8, 2021, the BMC instructed Shah to submit within ten days the memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding use/ availability of specific machines for executing the contract, Shah told the EOW in his statement, which is part of the charge sheet. He subsequently emailed Matprop and contacted its director Deepak Mohan, but did not get any response from them, eventually losing the contract, he said. Kadam and Joshi also helped Maindeep Enterprises and Acute Design secure contracts with the BMC in 2021-22 for desilting the river, and their firms, Virgo Specialities and Woder India, earned Rs.9.45 crore during this period towards rent for the stilt pusher and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines which were used to execute the contracts, the charge sheet said. Virgo Specialities had only one stilt pusher machine and no multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines while Woder India had no machinery at all when the firms executed agreements with contractors in 2021-22 to provide these machines for desilting work. This showed that the work orders in favour of Maindeep Enterprises, Tanisha Enterprise and Acute Design were based on false and fabricated rent agreements regarding availability of the machines, the charge sheet said. The FIR in the case was registered by the EOW on May 6, 2025, after a preliminary inquiry revealed that irregularities in desilting contracts had caused the BMC losses worth Rs.65.54-crore....