In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided Bollywood actor Dino Morea's house in Maharashtra. ED Raid at Dino Morea's house took place in connection with a money laundering case related to the Mithi River scam. The scam is linked to the alleged embezzlement of Rs 65 crore in the name of cleaning rivers in the state. Apart from the actor, the ED has raided a total of 15 places from Mumbai to Kochi in Kerala in this case.
Earlier, Dino Morea was questioned twice by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police. The EOW itself had registered the initial FIR in this case, after which the ED has now intensified the investigation from the money laundering angle.
How is Dino Morea's name linked to the case?
The Mithi River was cleaned by Mumbai's Municipal Corporation. Sludge pushers and dredging machines have been used for this. The machines were purchased from Kochi-based company Matprop Technical Services Private Limited for a huge amount.
Investigation of the case revealed that Ketan Kadam and Jai Joshi, in collusion with officials of Matprop Company and officials of BMC's Storm Water Drains Department, reportedly committed a scam of Rs 65 crore in the name of cleaning.
When the call records of the main accused of the scam, Ketan Kadam, were investigated, the names of actor Dino Morea and his brother came up. Both had talked to Ketan Kadam on several occasions. Investigating officials believe that Dino Morea and Ketan are not just friends, but there may also be a transaction of money between them. This is the reason why Dino is being questioned under the scope of investigation.
Dino Morea was recently seen in the Netflix series The Royals. He is also part of recently released comedy movie Houseful 5 that also features the like of Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Jacie Shroff, etc.