CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAINAGAR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has contacted the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city police for the ‘C’ summary final report and all investigation documents related to the 2023 Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) housing tender case. This case was closed in June 2024 after a Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) accepted the ‘C’ summary filed by the city police’s crime branch.
An FIR was filed at the City Chowk police station on February 23, 2023, following a complaint from Deputy Municipal Commissioner Aparna Thete. The FIR was registered under various IPC sections relating to cheating and forgery against 19 accused.
The complaint alleged collusion and fraudulent practices during the tender process for constructing 40,000 houses under PMAY. Shortly after the FIR, the ED initiated a money laundering investigation and began its own parallel probe.
In the ‘C’ summary final report, the city police noted a supplementary statement from complainant Aparna Thete. She explained that since all three bidders submitted their bids from the same IP address, it was initially inferred that the contractors had colluded to deceive the municipal corporation. “We assumed that the bidders attempted to secure the tender through improper means, leading to the complete cancellation of LOA-1 and LOA-2,” her statement indicated.
The supplementary statement clarified that no work order or agreement for the project was undertaken since the tender was canceled prior to that stage. Thus, there were no financial losses to the beneficiaries, the municipal corporation, the state government, or the central government. The project had not started on-site, land was never transferred to the developer, no government funds were allocated, no financial transactions occurred, and the contractor gained no financial benefit. Following the tender’s cancellation, a new tender was issued, and work orders were assigned to qualified bidders after due process was observed.
This statement further noted that the case arose from a misunderstanding caused by natural and human errors within the committee at that time. Since LOA-1 and LOA-2 were canceled promptly and no work orders were issued, the police concluded that the accused bidders had not received any undue advantage.
Based on these conclusions, the investigating officer, previously a sub-inspector named Kashinath Mahandule, observed that there was no financial loss to beneficiaries or any government agency and ruled out any financial gains for the contractors.
Consequently, the police submitted a ‘C’ summary indicating that no cognizable offense had been established. The JMFC court accepted this final report in June 2024, resulting in the closure of the case.
When approached for comments, Police Commissioner Pravin Pawar declined to provide any, while Deputy Municipal Commissioner Thete mentioned she needed to review the documents before responding.
The ED’s request for the ‘C’ summary and related investigation papers is significant as the agency had previously conducted searches in March 2023 at six locations connected to the contractors in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pune, and Akola and registered a money laundering case based on the police FIR. During these searches, the ED collected digital evidence, requested tender-related documents from the municipal corporation, and recorded statements.
A senior ED official stated that the agency would now review the reasoning behind the filing of the ‘C’ summary and compare it with its ongoing investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
