11 September,2023 12:23 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Kishori Pednekar. File pic
Former mayor of Mumbai, Kishori Pednekar appeared before the city police's Economic Offences Wing on Monday. Pednekar appeared before the EOW in connection with an alleged scam in the purchase of body bags for Covid-19 victims, a PTI report quoted a police official saying.
Pednekar, on September 6, was granted interim protection from arrest by the Bombay High Court for four weeks. The court noted that the case probe was on and at this stage custodial interrogation was not warranted. Prior to that, the court had asked the police not to take coercive action against her.
The court had also directed Pednekar to cooperate with the investigation and appear before Mumbai Police's EOW on three dates - September 11, 13 and 16 for questioning.
Kishori Pednekar, on Monday, reached the EOW office in Mumbai at around 11 am for an interrogation into the case, officials told PTI.
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The former Mumbai mayor approached the High Court after a sessions court rejected her anticipatory bail plea saying that she was accused of an economic offence which involved a "huge amount of public money".
The Economic Offences Wing registered a case against Kishori Pednekar and two other senior officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under sections 420 (Cheating) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections from the Indian Penal Code, based on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya.
Somaiya had alleged that there was misappropriation of funds and irregularities in the management of health facilities and purchase of body bags for deceased coronavirus patients, masks and other items by the BMC during the pandemic. And Pednekar was Mumbai's mayor at the time. She held the post from November 2019 till March 2022 when the term of BMC's general body ended. Fresh elections have not been held yet since then.
The former Mumbai mayor in her pre-arrest bail plea had stated that she was falsely implicated in the case and that the complaint against her was politically motivated. She claimed that the complaint was lodged against her only after the Shiv Sena party split vertically and that she is being targeted since she belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray faction.
Reportedly, she also claimed that the complainant, Somaiya, is known to make politically motivated complaints against leaders who do not pledge allegiance to his party.
