Dino Morea Arrested by Mumbai Police: Interrogated for 8 Hours in ₹65Cr Mithi River Scam
In a dramatic development rattling the Hindi film industry, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has formally placed Bollywood actor Dino Morea under arrest in connection with the multi-crore Mithi River desilting and rejuvenation scam. The arrest took place late on Friday, October 2, following an exhaustive, high-intensity interrogation session lasting nearly eight hours at the actor’s upscale Bandra residence. Senior investigators moved to take custody of the 50-year-old actor after finding purported discrepancies and evasive responses regarding high-value financial trails and his direct association with key contractors involved in the civic dredging contracts.
The ₹65.54 Crore BMC Desilting Scam: What Is the Case About
The core controversy centers on lucrative municipal contracts awarded for dredging, silt removal, and environmental widening of Mumbai’s vital Mithi River, intended to prevent annual monsoon flash flooding across suburban Mumbai. Forensic audits and anti-corruption inquiries initiated by law enforcement uncovered systemic irregularities, tender manipulation, and illicit payouts, concluding that fraudulent billing and kickbacks resulted in an estimated direct loss of ₹65.54 crore to the public exchequer managed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The ongoing criminal probe aims to unmask an organized syndicate linking private dredging contractors, corporate middlemen, and compromised civic engineers.
Money Trails & Shared Addresses: Linking the Morea Family to Kingpin Ketan Kadam
Dino Morea’s name surfaced on the investigative radar after cyber cell analysts examined intercepted call records and encrypted chats connecting him to prominent suspects in the case. Investigators had previously questioned the actor and his brother, Santino Morea, in May 2025 while auditing banking books belonging to Santino’s venture, UBO Rides Private Limited. The probe escalated when financial detectives detected suspicious monetary transfers routed from Ketan Kadam, identified by the EOW as one of the primary architects of the tender scheme. Kadam, who was arrested in 2025, operated Voder India LLP—a firm securing prime desilting assignments. Forensic inquiries revealed that both Voder India LLP and UBO Rides shared identical registered corporate offices near Famous Studios in Worli, Mumbai, leading police to suspect that front companies were utilized to park illicit project kickbacks.
Ongoing Clampdown: SIT Intensifies Crackdown on Syndicate Members
The widening investigation stems from a dedicated Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Mumbai Police EOW in 2024 to dismantle corruption networks skimming funds from public flood-mitigation initiatives. Law enforcement agencies have already executed multiple high-profile detentions, including contractor Ketan Kadam and associate Jayesh Joshi. With Morea now remanded in police custody, EOW prosecutors are preparing to cross-examine him alongside seized corporate ledgers, bank statements, and co-accused statements to determine whether proceeds of crime were laundered through media investments and family-run commercial businesses.
