SANTOSH NAIK
reporters@herald-goa.com
PONDA: Fifty-one-year-old Shridhar, who worked as a peon at the Goa State Scheduled Castes & Other Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation Ltd, was the sole breadwinner in the family. He was also a key witness in the job scam whose investigations may lead to the highest levels in the Government.
The Forensics Department has confirmed that he was surely not treated as an accused since the protocols for conducting postmortem examinations of accused are well laid out and the postmortem team follows them.
Police sources also revealed that Shridhar was one of the witnesses in the scam.
He was summoned for interrogation. His family had lodged a missing complaint.
Satarkar got his government job when Vishwas Satarkar was the Chairman of that corporation, a political appointment, when he (Vishwas Satarkar), a BJP candidate lost an assembly election.
The deceased Shridhar Satarkar’s links with the queen pin Pooja Naik are established. The scooter used by him was in her name, but the reasons why he was riding her scooter are unknown, but important to know.
Sources said that after Pooja’s arrest, the people whom Satarkar owed money, (to probably refund the amounts they paid for jobs) started demanding money from him. Following this, he obtained a loan and cleared some and even obtained money from PF to clear the debt.
This would indicate, according to police sources, that Shridhar Satarkar was more than a job seeker who paid to get his job. He may have acted as a job agent for Pooja Naik.
The family has naturally been hit hard by his death. His wife and eight-year-old daughter, who is studying in a primary school, have been left to fend for themselves.
The family and relatives of Shridhar have demanded justice for him by nabbing the culprits and have called upon the government to provide a job for his wife at the same Corporation Ltd on compassionate grounds.
People have been visiting Shridhar’s residence to offer their condolences to the bereaved family.
Shridhar’s wife told O Heraldo that for the past eight days her husband would visit the Mardol Police Station and return home after interrogation.
“On October 30, he went missing in the evening. I am unaware of my husband’s role in Pooja Naik cash-for-job scam as Shridhar never revealed anything to me,” she said.
A relative said, “Shridhar was very helpful in nature and the government and the police should thoroughly probe the cash-for-job scam to ensure Shridhar gets justice and make sure that the culprits do not go scot-free. If he had given money to Pooja then the entire racket and mastermind behind the same should be exposed and brought to book.”
Another close relative of the deceased said, “If Shridhar had utilised the money collected to offer jobs for his personal benefit, then it would have revealed his expenses as his house and standard of living were simple, while Pooja spent lavishly on purchasing high-end cars and flats.”