PANJIM: The Economic Offences Cell (EOC) of Goa Police, investigating Goa Cricket Association’s (GCA) funds misappropriation case, is yet to identify the person who actually withdrew the money from the bank.
In a major revelation, EOC officials confirmed they have not yet identified the person and that will be the main point on which they will seek that the bail application filed by GCA trio be rejected.
GCA President Chetan Dessai, Secretary Vinod Phadke and Treasurer Akbar Mulla were arrested in connection with an Rs 3.13 cr fraud. As per the complaint, the trio had opened a bank account fraudulently and cheques amounting to crores of rupees given by BCCI were deposited and money withdrawn.
“We are yet to identify the person who actually withdrew the money from the bank and we need to identify a person called Rajshekhar to whom two cheques of Rs 26 lakh were issued by GCA in the same period. Custodial interrogation of all three will give us these leads,” a senior EOC official said.
The officer said the two cheques were issued to Rajshekhar for payment of Hako Enterprises as per GCA’s claims but nobody knows who Rajshekhar is.
EOC is also yet to recover the minutes book of 2006-2008 to verify the resolution taken at the time when the money was withdrawn, he added. The official said the minutes book is presently missing from the GCA office.
The EOC on Wednesday arrested the trio following a complaint by GCA life member Vilas Desai accusing them of forging signatures and opening bank accounts to siphon off the association’s money.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Panjim heard arguments from three interveners – Vilas Desai, Prasad Fatarpekar and Hemant Angle – in the bail application of GCA trio. The order has been reserved by the court. JMFC will also hear arguments on the bail application on Monday.
All three accused have also approached Goa Bench of Bombay High Court claiming that the intervention by the three parties will delay the bail application and seeking an order to direct the JMFC to hear the bail application at the earliest. This application will also be heard on Monday by the HC bench.
