Anti Corruption Bureau registers case against Chief Operating Officer of Mumbai Monorail

Mumbai , India (Metro Rail Today) : Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filled a case against Dr. DLN Murthy, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Mumbai Monorail. He was allegedly demanding money from a contractor who is working with a facility management company. Dr. Murthy was asking bribe of Rs 20 lakhs to sanction a bill for the service offered by the company for Mumbai Monorail project.

Dr. Murthy said "That’s all false and baseless. The truth will come out soon. Request you to wait patiently till such time."

The company provides housekeeping maintenance and customer services. The company has a contract from January 2019 to August 2020 and for which Mumbai Monorail was charged Rs 2.5 Crores. The company also paid Rs 35 lakhs for Bank guarantee to Mumbai Monorail. So the total payable amount is Rs 2.82 Lakhs.

"After constant follow-ups with officials from Mumbai Monorail, the complainant managed to get Rs 2.1 crore in January 2021 and subsequently Rs 22 lakh in June. And in order to release the remaining amount of Rs 50 lakh, the COO, identified as Dr DLN Murthy, demanded Rs 20 lakh from the complainant," a statement by ACB Officials

According to ACB Officials, They have not arrested Dr. Murthy yet but they carried a search of his house for evidence. Murthy has been booked under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

While interacting to a media person, an ACB officer said: 

The team that went to trap him [Murthy] has his recordings of demanding the bribe but he never accepted the money. This is called a non-materialised trap as the acceptance is not there. So based on the recordings, a case of demanding a bribe has been registered against him. During the verification by the team which went along with the complainant posing as private persons, he was caught on tape asking for the money again, but he got suspicious and never accepted the bribe after which the case was registered against him based on the recording.

The Complainant approached to ACB headquarters in Worli on July 2, 2021. ACB team took the action and went to trap him. 

Mumbai's solitary monorail line, which runs on a 19.54 km stretch from Chembur to Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk, has been confronting functional and monetary troubles which has influenced its typical activities.