PANJIM: Nine months since its formation, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) land grabbing is taking a longer time than expected in filing chargesheets and starting a trial in the land grabbing cases, which is worrying the complainants, who are victims of fraudulent deals.
The SIT was formed on June 15 last year. However, there is no sign of a single chargesheet in the matter. The land grabbing is taking a toll on over 300 families.
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The SIT has till date booked more than 44 cases of land grabbing that occurred mostly in Bardez taluka of North Goa district and some cases in South Goa too. The investigation into the cases has led to arrests of government employees such as the Bardez Mamlatdar and also a Sub-Registrar, who had served in Canacona earlier.
The known cases of land grabbing probed by the team are from February 5, 2020 and February 8, 2020. A case was filed before the Panjim Police of a suspected land grabbing on February 5 and a case before the Mapusa Police on February 8, all within a span of three days. These are the oldest cases that are under the SIT scanner as per records provided by the police. The Panjim case has been transferred to the SIT while the Mapusa case is pending trial. The complainants in these cases have been waiting for justice for more than three years.
Meanwhile, the latest case that is being investigated by the SIT was registered by the Crime Branch (SIT) on December 12 last year.
PI Suraj Samant, who is investigating several land grabbing cases, said, “These are cases of forgery of documents. These kinds of cases need extensive investigation and evidence collection. It will take some time before we file chargesheets in these complex matters,” he said.
The Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Nidhin Valsan, who is also heading the SIT, has already clarified that the investigation has a lot of documentation that needs to be checked. “We are trying to get to the very root of these cases,” he said.
As per the available information, the SIT is presently investigating 39 cases. Some of the cases, which may not be construed as land grabbing cases after investigation, have been sent back to the respective police stations for further investigation.
The Commission of Inquiry, Land and Grabbing, Retired Justice V K Jadhav has informed, “The Commission is looking into 44 cases that have been referred. In addition to these, there are another five complaints that have come before the Commission directly.”
“The Commission has four months from the date of first hearing to submit its report on the mandate to the State government for appropriate action,” Justice Jadhav added.
