ED Summons Ex-Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar in COVID Body Bag Scam Case

Mumbai's former mayor and leader of the Uddhav Thackeray faction, Kishori Pednekar, has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 25 in connection with the COVID body bag scam case, ANI reported.

This move follows a previous summons issued in November last year. The ED investigation alleges that a company provided body bags for deceased COVID patients to another firm for Rs 2,000. Subsequently, the same body bags were supplied to the Central Procurement Department for Rs 6,800, and the contract was reportedly signed by Kishori Pednekar during her tenure as the then-BMC mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader. The Mumbai police had previously registered a case against Pednekar in this matter.

Earlier today, Rohit Pawar, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA, has received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate and is set to be summoned for questioning on January 24. The notice comes amid ongoing ED searches at Rohit Pawar's residence and his sugar factories in Baramati. The ED's intensified scrutiny is focused on alleged irregularities in the Baramati Agro case, leading to raids at six locations in Mumbai, including offices linked to Rohit Pawar.  The Baramati Agro company, with connections to the MLA, has been a focal point of investigation. This development follows a series of notices served to Rohit Pawar over the past year. In response to the ED notice, NCP President Sharad Pawar noted that Rohit Pawar had received notices on prior occasions. As ED raids continue at various offices of Baramati Agro, Sharad Pawar's comments underscore the NCP's close monitoring of the evolving situation.