Dino Morea arrested by Mumbai EOW in Rs 65.54 crore Mithi River scam

The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing has arrested Bollywood actor Dino Morea over his alleged involvement in a Rs 65.54 crore scam linked to the desilting of the Mithi River.

According to a report by Mid-Day, detectives spent nearly eight hours questioning the actor at his Bandra home on 2 October before taking him into custody. He remains in police custody as formal legal proceedings begin.

What is the Mithi River desilting scam?

The investigation centres on the cleaning and restoration of Mumbai's 17.84km Mithi River, a project launched after the devastating 2005 floods. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) alleges that corrupt practices, inflated tenders, and manipulated records of the amount of silt removed from the river cost the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Rs 65.54 crore.

The EOW set up a Special Investigation Team in August 2024 to look into the project. Police claim that records detailing the quantity of silt removed from the riverbed were systematically manipulated, allowing contractors to be paid vastly inflated sums for work they did not fully complete.

How is Dino Morea connected to the case?

Investigators began looking into Morea after finding phone records that showed contact between him and several people linked to the case. EOW detectives have also been examining the business dealings of the Morea family, specifically Dino’s brother, Santino Rocco Morea.

Santino Morea and Punita Kadam — the wife of arrested businessman Ketan Kadam — were directors in a company called UBO Ridez Private Limited. Ketan Kadam, who was arrested on 7 May, runs Woder India LLP, a desilting firm that secured civic contracts. Investigators are tracking the financial transactions between the Kadams and Santino to see if they tie back to the desilting funds.

According to the police, the fraud involved manipulating the municipal tendering process. BMC officials allegedly travelled to Kochi in October 2020 to buy equipment from a firm called Matprop Technical Services. Tenders were then written with specifications that matched only Matprop’s machines. Contractors who tried to buy the machinery were instead steered to middlemen, including Kadam and another accused, Jayesh Joshi of Virgo Specialties, who rented out the equipment at inflated rates.

Political heat and ED raids

The case has also taken on a political edge. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam publicly accused Aaditya Thackeray, leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), of corruption in the project, pointing to Thackeray’s close friendship with Morea.

Just days before the arrest, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided more than 15 locations across Mumbai and Kerala. These searches targeted Morea’s home, the residence of BMC assistant engineer Prashant Ramugade, and several contractors implicated in the case. Morea and his brother had previously been questioned by the EOW in May 2025, but the actor now faces formal detention as investigators continue to trace the municipal paper trail.