Hyderabad: Cyberabad Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) registered a case against Italian company Soilmec and its representatives for allegedly defrauding Hyderabad-based infra major, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), of Rs 13.5 crore in a tunnel drilling equipment deal.MEIL lodged the complaint with EOW on May 12. MEIL representative T Ashok Reddy alleged that Soilmec and its Indian subsidiary supplied defective tunnelling rigs in 2022-23, intended for use on the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway project in Uttarakhand. Soilmec is a construction equipment manufacturer based in Italy’s Cesena city.Police said MEIL placed an order in 2021-22 with Soilmec for ST-20 and ST-60 rigs, worth €1,582,000, based on assurances that the equipment would be suitable for the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new broad gauge rail line.“Despite receiving full payment, Soilmec has failed to deliver functional equipment within the agreed seven-eight month timeframe. The supplied machinery was defective and unfit for the intended use. The accused conspired from the outset, misleading MEIL into placing the order and collecting full payment for substandard equipment,” Ashok Reddy alleged, claiming that Italian technicians sent to commission the equipment abandoned the site without completing their work.Based on MEIL’s complaint, EOW registered a case under IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating), read with section 34 (common intention), against Soilmec representatives David Panzavolta, Nikunj Parekh, Renuka Satish, Sanjoy Chakraborthy, Stefano Cordella, and Paolo Melandri.“The case was initially registered at Balanagar police station on March 13, 2025, and was recently transferred to us. We are currently gathering evidence,” said an EOW official.