ED Questions Kishori Pednekar in COVID Body Bags Scam Case, Seeks Details of Firm Owned by Son

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned the former Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor in the alleged COVID-19 body bags scam case. The ED also sought documents related to Kish Corporate Pvt Ltd, a company owned by her son Saiprasad Pednekar.

Kishori Pednekar was questioned by the agency for the second time in this case. While leaving the ED office after the questioning, Pednekar, while speaking to the media said, “I was not questioned about body bags rather details of Kish Corporate were sought by the ED. I am a victim of the current politics in the country. Although whatever details are being sought, will be given to the agency.”

The ED's case is based on the FIR registered by Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) officials on August 4 2023 against Kishori Pednekar, Additional Municipal Commissioner of Project, Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Central Purchase Department (CPD) and other unknown individuals. Pednekar and other senior civic officials were booked under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant or by a banker, merchant, or agent), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. 

Previously, she was questioned over her purported involvement in telling BMC officials to give the contract to the accused company, M/s Vedanta Innotech Pvt. Ltd., and her possible role in inflating the price of body bags that BMC was supposed to purchase. She denied influencing BMC representatives or trying to persuade or threaten any representative to award the contract to the alleged business. Sources claim that she insisted that everything she did complied with legal requirements and procedures.

M/S Vedant Innotech PVT (VIPL), a private corporation, is being investigated for allegedly providing the BMC with body bags for deceased COVID-19 patients for Rs 6,719 per bag. This pricing was more than twice as high as the Rs 2,925 per bag quote that Care One Solution provided to other government agencies or private hospitals during the same time frame. According to the EOW FIR, the accused organised a criminal conspiracy to deceive the BMC and benefit M/s Vedanta Innotech Pvt, Ltd (VIPL) and its directors.

In 2020, an MNS leader alleged abuse of power by the Mayor as Kish Corporate Services Private Limited company, in which Saiprasad is an additional director, was allegedly given the contract in June 2020 without making a competitive bid for it. The company has three other directors and additional directors.

The MNS leader had accused the BMC of awarding a contract for providing manpower to the NSCI Covid centre in Worli to Kish Corporate Services run by Pednekar's son, without calling for tenders.

Pednekar had denied the allegations in the past and had said, “The allegations made against her son were baseless and politically motivated. The company got the contracts on the merits and after following due procedures.”

Kishori Pednekar was formerly associated with Kish Corporate Service India Ltd. Her son Saiprasad Pednekar was named an Additional Director after she left the firm in April 2013. The company was allegedly created using forged documents, and its registered office was located in two rooms at the Gomata Janta Society in Worli, in a building built as part of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) programme. Based on an ROC complaint, the BMC sealed this office. 

An action was taken against the directors of Kish Corporate Services India Pvt Ltd in 2023 as a result of a complaint that the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) had filed. According to the complaint, there was a delay in depositing the approximately ₹4.47 lakh Provident Fund belonging to 137 employees. The complaint states that although Provident Fund (PF) deductions were taken out of the employees' paychecks, the money was never deposited into their PF accounts. 

According to the allegations, Kish Corporate Services India Pvt Ltd obtained a contract with BEST to provide drivers on a contractual basis. Unsettlingly, the contract workers argued that their legitimate contributions were never sent to the EPFO, even with PF deductions.

The necessary PF amount transfers were not made by the company. In October and November of these months, the company withheld ₹2.20 lakh and ₹2.27 lakh from the paychecks of 127 and 137 employees, respectively, for a total of ₹4.47 lakh.

Surprisingly, these deductions were not sent to the EPFO right away. Show cause notifications were sent to the company on January 30 and February 1 in response to these findings. The company did not take corrective action until these warnings were given, at which point it deposited the outstanding cash plus fines of ₹2.31 lakh for the October 2021 lapse and ₹2.38 lakh for the November 2021 shortfall.