Bombay high court grants bail to company’s CEO in Rs 65 crore Mithi river desilting contract scam case

Mumbai: Bombay high court on Wednesday released on bail the CEO of Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd and alleged mastermind of the Rs 65-crore Mithi river desilting contract scam. Justice R M Joshi, prima facie, found "substance" in Ketan Kadam's contention that documents on record do not support the allegations against him.According to the prosecution, EOW's investigation revealed contractors submitted false MoU and documents to BMC regarding sites where they had dumped silt from Mithi river. However, no silt had actually been dumped there. Virgo Specialities entered into an MoU with contractors to provide them contracts with two machines for desilting the river. Those machines were not procured and crores of rupees were siphoned off.Kadam was booked for criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy and arrested in 2025.Senior advocate Sudeep Pasbola, for Kadam, said Jay Joshi, owner of the company, was granted bail by sessions court. He said the chargesheet is filed and Kadam's further custody is not necessary. Opposing Kadam's application, prosecutor A R Kapadnis said a huge amount has been misappropriated by forcing contractors to avail machines from the applicant's company. Also, Joshi was given bail on the ground that he was not a signatory to any document.Agreeing with Pasbola, Justice Joshi said perusal of the record and allegations indicates "that applicant (Kadam) or companies represented by him" were not allotted the contract and were not responsible for the actual work. The only allegation is the company facilitated contractors to obtain contracts and without procuring two machines received money. In this regard, it is "pertinent to note" that BMC allotted contracts to contractors who did not have machines for desilting work. "Thus it is clear corporation permitted them to engage the services of others ... for providing such machines to execute the work. In such circumstances, it cannot be said ... any illegality has been committed by the applicant by providing such machines to the contractor," he added.Justice Joshi further said the record indicates two machines were procured and used for desilting. Besides, there are documents indicating senior BMC officials certified the work and they were also seen at the spot inspecting it. "In the light of these facts, when a chargesheet is filed, the applicant cannot be kept in custody by way of pre-trial sentence," the judge said.Noting that Kadam has no criminal history and is unlikely to flee, Justice Joshi directed his release on Rs 30,000 personal bond. Kadam shall attend the trial court on every date except when exempted.