MUMBAI: City police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has booked three directors of a Gujarat-based company along with the assistant general manager of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) in a case of a forged bank guarantee of Rs 99.5 crore submitted by one of the bidders in a solar power project.The FIR stated the accused linked to Om Yash CJR Lamat Via Projects Pvt Ltd prepared a forged bank guarantee of Rs 99.5 crore purportedly issued by the Gujarat branch of a public sector bank and submitted to MSEDCL. Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana 2.0 is a solar power generation scheme by MSEDCL to provide reliable and quality electricity to farmers in the state for agricultural pumps. On March 20 last year, Rahul Panhale, assistant general manager of MSEDCL, allegedly sent an email from his official ID to a bank ID, almost similar to the bank’s original ID, asking to verify the genuineness of the bank guarantee. Panhale received a reply from the fake ID confirming the genuineness of the document. This document was submitted as supporting proof along with the tender documents. The company won the bid, but no work was undertaken even six months after it was awarded the project.This prompted MSEDCL to undertake a scrutiny and the fraud came to light. Police alleged it was a conspiracy where the three directors of the accused company connived with Panhale. MSEDCL said it could have encashed the bank guarantee for its failure, but in this case the document was found to be forged.MSEDCL lodged an FIR with the Nirmal Nagar police in Bandra and the probe has been taken over by the EOW inspector Salim Shikalgar. Power project scam in Mumbai: Company directors, MSEDCL official booked in fake bank guarantee caseThe FIR names Panhale, besides the company officials, Hiteshbhai Ravia, Hirenkumar Kanani and Bhaveshkumar Patel as accused. TOI tried to contact Panhale but his mobile phone was switched off. Bharat Pawar, spokesperson for MSEDCL, confirmed an FIR has been registered but declined to elaborate on it.
