Mountain of cases will give no time for Goa land grab probe team to SIT

PANJIM: As Herald continues to expose massive land scams in Goa, several questions about the government’s seriousness to take investigations to their logical end have come to the fore. 

Let us first look at the official existing workload of SIT. There are 180 cases to be looked at of which 29 are registered FIRs after back-to-back exposes by Herald. Of these, 90% originated in the jurisdiction of the Mapusa Police Station area. 

Of these 26 have been transferred from various police stations (out of the 38 registered with them including the two A final cases closed beforehand). The other three, of the 29, have been registered directly by SIT.

More than 90% of the registered cases and most of the complaints have been filed with the Mapusa P.S., clearly the nerve center and hotbed of the Goa land scam.

In addition, there are 151 complaints filed by victims whose properties have been grabbed. Of the seven arrests made so far, Mohd Shafi has been described as “one of the kingpins.” 

With mounting cases, questions arise over SIT’s capability to deliver the deluge of investigations. The chief of SIT Nidhin Valsan, IPS, admitting the high workload claimed that he has 30 personnel on the job looking at the active cases and officers of PSI rank are probing the complaints.

Herald has learnt that some elected politicians have come under the scanner for their direct or indirect involvement in the scams.

Investigators have maintained a stoic silence. 

When asked about this Goa Director General of Police Jaspal Singh told Herald, “These are administrative issues which need no comment. SIT’s job is to unearth conspiracy to grab land and whoever is involved will have to answer the court of Law.”

It has also been disclosed that a slight delay in the arrest of Vikrant Shetty – who was the first to be held by the police in connection with several land scams – could have led to some startling revelations.

“Shetty’s arrest was pre-mature. It was crucial, yes, but required some more time to execute because some big names would have tumbled out of the closet. Nevertheless, the Goa Police have leads which only need to be developed into evidence against the accused,” a senior officer told Herald. 

The arrests of two government officials from the Department of Archaeology and of one political person Estevam D’Souza were expected to provide the SIT with a breakthrough in the matter. However, none has been achieved yet.

“Investigation is underway. It’s an in-depth investigation before zeroing in on any suspect,” an officer said.