The nauseating saga of the attempt of the Special Investigating Team of the Goa police to go after PratapSingh Rane and his son Vishwajeet hook line and sinker, has taken politics to a new low. While the “police is doing its job” is a banter which is way past its sell by date, knowing the manner in which government’s use institutions, the SIT has gone about this business of investing the Dahej Mineral owner Naik’s bribery allegations in a manner which is nothing short of farcical tomfoolery.
At the onset, one must place on the table an important disclaimer. The Herald is not passing judgment on the veracity of Naik’s supposed allegations that Mr PratapSingh Rane demanded a bribe of Rs 10 crores, to withdraw his objection to Naik being given an EC clearance for his mine, or that Vishwajeet Rane accepted a bribe of Rs 6 crores for ensuring a license for Dahej Minerals.
Your newspaper is merely saying that the basis of this investigation is completely flawed since Naik has not made any allegation on the Rane’s at all but has all along reported what his omnipresent director Girish Gopalkrishna Prabhudesai a.k.a Girish Pai has told him. Naik’s statement to the CID dated July 2, 2014 reads “ I clarify that I have not personally visited leader of the Opposition PratapSingh Rane for asking any favour for getting Environmental License or any other favours and hence the question of demanding Rs 10 crores does not arise”
In Naik’s FIR and in his statement which forms the basis of the reply of the investigating officer there is a consistent refrain. That Girish Pai informed him that he went to the senior Ranes residence where Rs 10 crores was demanded and again Girish Pai visited Vishwajeet Rane who demanded and accepted Rs 6 crores. He even goes to state in his statement to the SIT that the Rs 6 crores were not paid by Pai from the company account. Naik in his FIR also says “I do not whether the money was paid by Girish Pai in cash or by any other mode”.
If we stick to just the very letter of these statements, don’t these questions naturally arise even if you are the Ranes sworn enemy “ Why would a director of the company pay a bribe of Rs 6 crores (it’s not 600 rupees) on behalf of his bosses, and that too with his bosses not knowing where the money came from. Did Pai dip into his own funds to do so and why would he do that. And where did he get those Rs 6 crores from, coz the monies were not obviously accounted for? Then how can the claim of a Director of the company that bribes were paid on his behalf not lead to the questioning and police custody of the man who paid the bribe albeit through his director from funds not accounted for?
We then move into a broader space. If the entire complaint against the Rane’s hinges on the supposed information given by Pai to Naik about the Ranes demand and acceptance of bribes, then shouldn’t further action pivot around the man in focus, the ‘omnipresent’ Girish Pai confirming all that his boss has been saying to the media, the police and anyone who cares to listen. And in a curious twist the omnipresent Pai has become minimally present and is displaying extreme brevity of speech and expression, with regard to his alleged allegations.
With Pai for reasons best known to him, and here’s one guess- that Pai is the convenient fall guy to bounce all this off- not making a single statement about paying any bribe to Junior Rane or being in a situation where the Senior Rane demanded Rs 10 crores, does this case hold?
Meanwhile the SIT under the political tutelage of this government is teaching us new innovations in criminal investigation. It tells the court that Girish Pai “appears to be under fear and tension and deliberately not disclosing the truth” and therefore it becomes imperative to put the Rane’s behind bars.
All along, we thought that people are taken into custody when there is prima facie evidence against them, including specific statements of witnesses to the criminal act. Here the witness, who should also be an accused, hasn’t confirmed a single charge leveled by the complainant. But the SIT wants to take the accused in custody because it perceives that the witness who they banked upon to confirm the bribery charges is just not doing it.
As an aside there’s another twist. In his FIR, Mr Naik says he “does not know” who the Congress MLA who supposedly accompanied Girish Pai to the Rane residence. In his supplementary statement Naik, mentions that name of Babu Kavlekar, who statement has not been recorded.
Clearly a witch hunt has been ordered by the powers that be against the Rane’s. If the purpose is to expose corrupt practices at the highest quarters, it would have shown. What is on display is a hatched job of the police, in utter desperation to be in service of their political master.
