PANJIM: Former BJP MLA Kiran Kandolkar’s apartment was raided for gambling activities late Tuesday night bringing him under the radar of Goa Police, which is already probing large scale matka gambling ring operating in the State.
The CB sleuths have arrested three persons – Vipul Nerulkar, Sunil Chavan and Adav D’Souza for the illegal activity and seized gambling articles besides Rs 50,000 approx cash from the apartment located at Khorlim in Mapusa. Incidentally, Kandolkar’s alternate residence where he lives with his family is barely a few metres away from the raided flat.
Sources said the investigating team is probing whether Kandolkar is linked with the offence, considering that the flat belongs to him. “We are verifying his (Kandolkar) role into the crime. The investigation is at primary stage and all angles will be looked into,” an official said. It is however not clear whether the ex-MLA will be summoned for questioning. Officials are on the lookout for another person one Ashok Naik alias Mama as he allegedly operated the racket.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Goa Police, which is probing the nexus between police-press-politicians into the matka racket, has been intimated about the raid.
On the direction of the High Court of Bombay at Goa, the CB in 2015 had registered First Information Report (FIR) against a politician by the name Kiran from Tivim, an unidentified minister, politicians, police officers, matka operators, 1,100 bookies and two media houses in the matka case. In one of its status reports filed before the High Court four years ago, the investigation team had stated that there is nothing on record or evidence to prove the organised crime or nexus.
