PANJIM: Acting on Herald’s report “Training school SP ‘allotted’ Rs 14 lakh worth of electrical work without tender of work orders”, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has initiated a preliminary inquiry against IPS officer A V Deshpande, principal of the Police Training School.
As the SP is an IPS officer, which comes under group ’A’ officers, the ACB has written to the chief secretary that they are investigating the case.
The letter to the chief secretary mentions that the report in Herald contains disturbing material that requires prompt investigation in public interest.
The inquiry started with a noting from the Director of Vigilance, Amarsen Rane following a petition from social activists demanding investigation in the case of corruption suo moto after the Herald expose. Police Inspector B T Menezes has been appointed as the investigating officer.
Following Herald’s report, NGO Generation Next for Goa wrote to Union Home Secretary L C Goyal demanding the immediate suspension of Deshpande and the appointment of a special investigation team to inquire into the case.
“We demand that a special investigation team be formed under your personal supervision. We demand that the IPS officer may be immediately suspended and be summoned before the MHA as he has started interfering in the investigation set up by the Goa Police,” the letter by the NGO to the Union home secretary reads.
According to sources, Deshpande was spotted at the DGP’s official residence on Thursday morning, raising speculations that he could be seeking a transfer to Andaman and Nicobar, in the aftermath of the PTS tender expose.
Deshpande, who at one point was extremely media friendly and active in the social media, deactivated his Facebook profile after the expose. One of his last posts was ‘finally respite from the court and won the battle’ and scanned copied of the judgment against the Goa government.
