The SIT sleuths who are investigating a dozen related cases had summoned Lolienkar at 11 am to their Dona Paula office where he was grilled for nearly two and half hours in a case registered against former independent MLA and mining baron Anil Salgaocar. Sources said Lolienkar’s role surfaced since he was one of the members of a monitoring committee which was appointed to examine mining leases in 2009. Two other committee members, Jagdish Hosmani of Water Resources Department and former deputy director of Agriculture Girish Kamat, have also been summoned on January 16. A former Conservator of Forests, who headed the committee and is presently posted in Arunachal Pradesh, is expected to be summoned by the SIT shortly.
The case pertains to a complaint filed by Mines Director Prasanna Acharya accusing S Kantilal and Co Ltd for carrying out illegal mining and ore extraction, supported by a monitoring committee report in 2009. Salgaonkar is the director of the mining lease at Sanguem and former minister Joaquim Alemao is the raising contractor. The company allegedly did not have all the requisite permissions to carry out the mining activity and ore extraction.
