ED summons ex-Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar again in Covid-19 body bag scam

Mumbai: former city mayor Kishori Pednekar has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) once again in connection with the Covid-19 body bag scam. Despite missing the earlier summons on Wednesday, Pednekar's request for a four-week extension to gather documents was granted. The ED has reissued the summons for November 23.

Reports indicate that Pednekar is allegedly linked to inflating the cost of body bags during the BMC’s procurement process, as per the Economic Offences Wing’s (EOW) FIR. The EOW's investigation suggests that two vendors were selected after the bidding process in April 2020. Care Solution, the first company, offered to supply body bags at Rs 2,583 per unit. However, Pednekar, in her role as mayor, allegedly intervened and directed the contract to Vedanta Innotech.

According to Haridas Rathod, in charge of the Central Purchase Department, he recommended the purchase order in favour of Care Solution. Despite the company's delivery of 2,000 body bags, BMC officials rejected them without explanation, later declaring them unfit. The EOW investigation reveals that until June 2020, an alternative supplier had not been finalized. Subsequently, BMC started purchasing body bags from Vedanta Innotech at Rs 6,719 per unit, more than double the rate charged by other private hospitals and government authorities (Rs 2,925) during the same period.