ACB forwards case to SIT for further investigation
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former Congress ministers, former mines directors and others in the Goa mining scam even as the Supreme Court is hearing the case three times a week and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Goa Police is investigating a complaint filed by Mines Department.
Former chief ministers Pratapsing Rane and Digambar Kamat (also ex-Mines Minister), former mines directors Arvind Lolienkar (presently placed under suspension) and JB Bhinge, former Chief Conservator of Forests Shashi Kumar, mines officials RV Shetgaonkar, Shyam Sawant and Shobna Rivonkar, and mine owners Praful Hede and Somnath Zuwarkar (former Congress minister) have been named in the FIR.
ACB SP Bosco George said the case, registered under sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 22 of the Mines and Minerals Act 1957, has been forwarded to the SIT headed by DIG KK Vyas for further investigation.
“We had sought clarifications from the Mines department and felt there is substance in the case. But we cannot launch a formal investigation since SIT is already formed to investigate the scam…The government opined that an FIR should be registered and forwarded to the SIT,” SP George told Herald.
Ironically, the complaint was filed by the present Congress party spokesman Sudip Tamhankar on September 20, 2011, before joining the party last year in which had named Kamat as one of the main accused. He had also demanded that Rane, in whose tenure the Justice Shah Commission report established existence of illegal mining, should also be probed.
DIG Vyas, when contacted by Herald to divulge the further course of action said, “No matter has been received yet. I can comment only after studying the matter.”
The SIT is already investigating a case filed by Mines Director Prasanna Acharya before the CB in July, which was based on Supreme Court’s CEC, Justice MB Shah Commission and Goa Legislative Assembly’s PAC reports which bolstered claims about Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining in the State. The SIT took over this investigation from the CB. The complaint holds several politicians, officials of Mines department, Indian Mines Bureau, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests responsible for the illegalities in mining.
