TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Underlying the need to conduct a thorough enquiry and fix responsibility on I-T officials vis-à-vis the raid on the Velim Parish Priest, District Election Officer, South Goa Sandip Jacques has said it is felt appropriate that I-T officials should tender an apology to Fr Romano Gonsalves in particular and the Catholic community in general on account the “unjustified act” to avoid any law an order problem in the district.
Just before his transfer from South Goa, Jacques wrote a letter to D Kiran, Assistant Director of Income Tax and Nodal Officer for
The letter emphasised the need to identify the source of such “non-credible information” and also initiate action deemed appropriate at the earliest, saying “acting on such frivolous complaints will lead to chaos in the district and panic amongst the people in general”.
“It would not be out of context to point out that by providing the assistance of flying squad of the district election machinery to your Income Tax team, the actions of your officials have created an impression that the raid was directed and conducted by the flying squad from the election point of view, putting the office of the Collector and district election officer in a very embarrassing position”, the letter added.
Saying that raiding a suspected location or searching a suspected person is well within the laid down norms and procedures, Jacques said “raiding a religious place, ie a Church premise and conducting a search more specifically on a priest definitely required a proper analysis of the complaint or the information provided by the informant before acting”.
