BMC assistant engineer found hanging in link with e-tendering scam

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Sanjay Sawant (54), an assistant engineer of Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Kandivli on February 15. According to sources from BMC, Sawant was one of the members of the vigilance team probing the Rs 100 crore BMC e-tendering scam and was found hanging in his bedroom just three days after the inquiry committee headed by three senior officers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared sixty-three out of eighty-three BMC staffers including the assistant municipal commissioner, executive engineers, an assistant engineer, sub-engineers and junior engineers guilty in e-Tendering scam.

Since no suicide note was found, an Accidental Death Report (ADR) has been registered in the Kandivli police station. The cops are yet to arrive at a conclusion but sources alleged that Sawant was under immense pressure which led to the alleged suicide. As per the statement by Leena Sawant, deceased's wife, "He had been under massive stress and depression. We don't know what it was, but he was really worried about his post-retirement".

Sources under the condition of anonymity told mid-day, "Sawant was under immense pressure to cover up the e-tender scam in which many high professionals and senior officials of BMC were involved." In 2014, on the complaint of Vivekanand Gupta, the city civil court had directed the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) to register a case and probe the allegation he levelled against BMC officials in e-tendering process which incurred loss of more than 100 crore rupees. According to a complaint, the accused officers had allegedly violated the e-tendering norms and connived with the private firm for their benefit. In November 2014, Anti-corruption Bureau had registered an FIR against twenty-two senior BMC employees, including Devendra Jain, a ward officer of P-North. Four directors of ABM knowledgeable Limited had been also named in the FIR along with BMC officials."

A police officer from Kandivli Police station said, "We have registered ADR in connection with the suicide, investigations are underway. Right now we can't predict the reason behind the suicide. But, we have registered a detailed statement of relatives of the deceased. If anything comes to light revealing the reason behind suicide, we will act accordingly."

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