MARGAO, APRIL 5
Justice delayed is justice denied, so goes the saying. April 6 would mark eight years since the infamous ticket gate rocked the State involving GCA Chief Dayanand Narvekar during the India-Australia ODI match.
Sadly, while many a cricket fan with genuine tickets faced the brunt of lathis on the day of the match, trial of the criminal case against Narvekar and eight other accused persons is yet to begin till date.
Presently, the case is pending in the High Court after Narvekar and others preferred an appeal against the order of the Sessions Court upholding the trial court order framing charges against the nine accused in the case.
While the High Court has stayed operation of the Sessions Court order, the lower court, Margao is awaiting the outcome of the matter in the High Court either to commence the trial or close the file.
It was two years ago that Judicial Magistrate First Class, Margao Ashley Noronha ordered framing of charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery against Narvekar and others. But, before the court could frame charges, the accused preferred a revision before the Sessions Court, which was decided last year against the accused, forcing Narvekar to resign from the Digambar Kamat Cabinet.
The Margao police had charged Narvekar, Ramshankar Das and Vinod Phadke for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with the ticket contractor, Chinmay Fallari for the sale of tickets by manipulation in the tender for a consideration of Rs 68 lakh.
The police further charged the trio for intentionally placing orders for 29,000 tickets and complimentary passes before Hitech print system, Hyderabad beyond the capacity of the stadium, which was put at 27,300 spectators.
In execution of the criminal conspiracy, the excess tickets numbering 1650 worth Rs 9.37 lakh were allegedly unauthorisedly diverted to accused Eknath Naik, the brother-in-law of Dayanand Narvekar for sale. The Police alleged that Eknath sold the tickets for higher premium to the general public and cheated them.
The police further charged the trio for allegedly printing 700 fake complimentary tickets from Classical computers Panjim and illegally sold the tickets to general public in execution of the criminal conspiracy.
