PANJIM: Iron-ore dealer Prasanna Ghodge, who is in custody of the special investigation team (SIT) for the past 20 days for his alleged involvement in illegal mining, was recently taken to Raipur in connection with investigations into a similar scam there.
This is the second time that Raipur police have taken him into custody for interrogation in a string of criminal offences registered against him.
Sources said Ghodge was earlier arrested by the Chhattisgarh police for allegedly cheating the Chhattisgarh government of Rs 250 crore.
The Belgaum native has been accused of not disclosing all the facts about allegedly selling inferior iron ore fines to an exporting firm in Goa by falsely showing these as rich. In 2012, the Raipur Chief Judicial Magistrate had issued an arrest warrant against Ghodge following which Goa police raided his company PVG Exporter and Logistics located on 18th June Road. The firm was involved in mining operations and supplying iron ore for exports in Goa.
Besides Goa and Raipur, Ghodge has a number of other cases filed against him in three states including Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The police teams had jointly investigated 95 bank accounts registered in the name of eight of his companies last year.
The Goa SIT had registered a case of cheating against him and two others based on a complaint by a Raipur-based company – Shivnath Minerals and Chemicals – having its branch office at Taleigao and alleged that he cheated
the firm of several crores
of rupees.
