Body bag scam: EOW records statement of former Mumbai mayor

Kishori Pednekar. File pic/Ashish Raje

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police recorded the statement of former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar for close to two hours in connection with the body bag scam that caused a loss of around Rs 50 lakh to the BMC. The officials have asked to her to appear again on September 13 for further questioning.

Pednekar and certain senior officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), have been named in the FIR for purportedly procuring 1,200 body bags from Vedanta Innotech Pvt Ltd (VIPL) during the pandemic in April 2020, allegedly at an inflated price.

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As per the First Information Report (FIR), Pednekar is alleged to have instructed Haridas Rathod, the deputy dean of the Central Purchase Department of BMC, to award the contract to VIPL while canceling the eligibility of Care One Solution, which had initially qualified as a vendor. During negotiations, the value of the body bags from VIPL was reduced to Rs 2,583, from the originally proposed Rs 6,719.

The FIR contends that, despite Care One Solution being awarded the contract, the BMC rejected their body bags, citing quality concerns and alleged leakage issues. The BMC continued to purchase body bags from VIPL at the initially quoted Rs 6,719.