Team Herald
PANJIM: After more than two years, Crime Branch has arrested one Francy Gonsalves of Chicalim for fraudulent sale of land at Mopa, which was acquired for the greenfield airport project.
The police have also served notice of arrest to Kenneth Silveira of Chicalim, who had allegedly purchased the land vide sale deed dated July 29, 2010 allegedly on a false and fabricated Power of Attorney dated July 29, 2007.
The land situated at Casarvanem, Pernem was acquired for the proposed Mopa airport project in 2009.
As per the complaint filed by Director of Civil Aviation Suresh Shanbhogue, on June 13, 2011, the special land acquisition officer (SLAO) awarded compensation of Rs 49,83,709 in the name of one Laxmibai Madval. A month later the SLAO received a joint application from four persons from Casarvanem claiming compensation on the ground that they were the legal heirs of Madval, who performed the duties of Shree Sateri Mahadev Devastan.
In the meantime, Silveira sent a letter to the SLAO on August 13, 2012 claiming compensation for the property which was awarded in favour of Madval on ground that a sale deed was executed on July 29, 2010 between him and Fancy Gonsalves, acting as Power of Attorney holder of Madval and accordingly mutation was also carried out.
Due to dispute regarding the ownership of the land, the SLAO referred the matter to the District and Sessions Court in January 2014. The court vide judgment dated October 30, 2015 disposed of the matter observing that Silveira was entitled to compensation awarded by the SLAO along with interest thereon.
In 2015 the Goa government announced additional compensation three times the value of the land acquired for the Mopa project, the SLAO on October 28, 2016 informed the Director of Civil Aviation (DCA) regarding the additional three times payment of compensation to Silveira. The DCA even sanctioned additional compensation of 1,49,51,127 to Silveira and forwarded the bill to the Directorate of Accounts for release of payment.
The fraud came to light when the government received a complaint in November 2017 from Suresh Chopdekar, who alleged multi-crore scam on the exchequer by fraudulently claiming money from the land acquisition process by Silveira in connivance with Gonsalves.
The government received another complaint in January 2018 from Shree Sateri Mahadev Devasthan requesting it not to disburse the three times additional compensation to Silveira and to conduct probe into the criminal fraud. One of the legal heirs of Madval also filed a police complaint stating that Laxmibai Madval had expired before Liberation and that the land was purchased by Silveira based on the power of attorney of a person who had died.
The power of attorney was executed in 2007 purportedly by Madval in the name of Gonsalves, which shows that there is fabricated and fraudulent power of attorney executed to usurp the government money.
After the court rejected the anticipatory bail application, the crime branch arrested Gonsalves on September 27 and on Monday he was remanded to 14 days judicial custody. The police have issued notice of arrest to Silveira as he was granted interim bail in the past.
When contacted, PI Rahul Parab, who is investing the case, told Herald that the police have already recorded the statements of witnesses and a 68-year-woman from Casarvanem, who was allegedly used by the accused to commit the fraud.
