Mumbai Police probe to find out role of firm in bagging civic contracts during COVID-19 pandemic?

MUMBAI, (PTI): A first information report has been registered against two directors of a company for allegedly using forged documents for its registration, police said on Saturday.

Notably, this firm was at the centre of allegations that it had bagged contracts from the Mumbai civic body through fraudulent means to provide medical facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A police official said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s close aide Sujit Patkar allegedly became a partner in the company after six to eight months of its formation. Patkar has not been named in the FIR but the police investigation in the case is on, he said.

The case against two directors was registered after a complaint was lodged by an official from the office of the Registrar of Companies (RoC). BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had alleged the company is among the firms that had used fraudulent means to bag contracts from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as providers of medical facilities during the COVID pandemic.

As per the RoC’s complaint filed at the Marine Drive police station on Friday afternoon, the two directors had submitted bogus papers to get the company registered. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (intending that a document forged shall be used for the purpose of cheating), said the official. Somaiya had also sought an investigation into the alleged tender scam in the BMC, he added. (PTI)