roads engineer Upendra Kudwa

Lokayukta

BMC

Metro Unity Co-operative Housing Society

ACB scanner

K-West ward

Preliminary report says that he misused his official position to exert pressure on some departments to not act against him; report has been submitted toprobe against a road engineer, who has been accused of running coaching classes in an Andheri apartment during office hours in violation of service rules and amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, has found him guilty.According to the preliminary report, prepared by the BMC’s chief inquiry officer Rajendra Relekar and submitted to the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokayukta, assistant engineer (roads) Upendra Kudwa, who owns as many as nine flats worth Rs 15 crore in Mumbai, misused his official position in the BMC to conduct classes at(CHS).He also put “undue pressure” on various civic departments to prevent them from taking action against him. The report, a copy of which is with Mirror, says that Kudva, who had earlier claimed that his wife and mother were running the coaching centre, was actually “an active participant” in the tutorials.This is not all. Kudwa didn’t disclose the properties and wealth accumulated in the names of his mother, wife and other relatives to the BMC. The worth of his assets came to light after the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) wrote to the BMC, saying that Kudwa owned assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.The report also names several civic officials, who were in cahoots with Kudwa.Besides, the three-story building housing his coaching centre, Value Tutorials, was illegally changed from a residential premise to a commercial complex.Metro CHS has been operating without an occupation certificate and a water connection since 1991. Despite being a public servant and knowing BMC rules, Kudwa carried his activities from the building.Mumbai Mirror had first reported about Kudwa’s alleged misdeeds on September 9, detailed how the engineer had flouted BMC service rules to run private enterprises. In another report on September 23, Mirror revealed that he had come under theInquiry officer of, who didn’t want to be identified, said that if found guilty in the final report, Kudwa could face dismissal from service. The report also calls for stringent action for serious offences and a departmental inquiry against Abhijeet Ingle, sub-engineer of building proposal department, Jitendra Rathod, junior engineer, Tarakant Pawar, assistant engineer from building and factories department and Sriram Manjrekar, senior inspector (licence) department.Contacted, Ingle said, “Let the administration decide what is to be done. I have no comments.” Rathod said that he would not say anything till he sees the report. Manjrekar and Pawar were not available for comment.Idris Kundan, additional municipal commissioner, said, “The matter has been probed. It is learnt that Kudwa influenced other civic officials to get favours. However, this case isn’t over and a final decision is awaited on the action to be taken against him.”Despite several attempts, Kudwa could not be reached for comments.The three complainants in this case — Azeem Multani, Akhtar Hussain and Vineet Dedhiya — welcomed the findings of the investigation.“If prima facie they have found him guilty, the BMC shouldn’t shy away from taking stringent action. Following due process of law, Kudwa should be put on trial for his misconduct. But the BMC is dilly-dallying, which shows that it has no intention in bringing errant officers to book. It is a clear sign of bad governance,” said Multani, a stall owner who had complained to the Ombudsman.Hussain said that Kudwa should be immediately dismissed from his job. “Now we know the reason for potholed roads. Road engineers are corrupt,” said Hussain.