Further to Part 1 of our two part series published on Thursday, April 23, we now know that Deshpande, after getting electrical work done, gave Rs 5 lakh rupees in cash to the contractor, against his then pending bills of over Rs 9 lakh, after the later applied pressure, and then forced him to return Rs 2 lakh in cash of that amount.
The cash was handed over and a receipt was prepared by UDC Rajaram V Gawas, presumably a staff of the PTS, and obtained receipt copy from the contractor
This is a blatant violation of contract and coding rules. The Rs 5 lakh paid by PTS Principal, Superintendent of Police A V Deshpande, according to the letter by the contractor in his letter to Deshpande and the director general of police, was “adjusted from the advance deposits of trainees in the PTS”. After having done that, the contractor claims, that the PTS principal frequently asked him to refund the advance amount of Rs 5 lakh, because the term of that batch of trainees was coming to an end in May 2014. Finally, the contractor was forced to return Rs 2 lakh in cash which was handed over to a police personnel called Sinari.
This raises several serious questions. Work amounting to Rs 14 lakh was orally given by Deshpande without following any codal formalities. Thus with absolutely no sanction, he reportedly drew from advances given by trainees. He then sought a refund of that advance, of which he received Rs 2 lakh. When contacted, IGP Sunil Garg did not comment on the specific case but when pressed whether cash advances without any sanction or work order can be given and cash taken back with no accounting, he said, “These things cannot and should not happen.” If there was ever an understatement, this was one.
We ask, a) Under what rule was the cash advance given from advance deposits of trainees? b) Was the cash of Rs 2 lakh received by policeman Sinari deposited back into the deposit account? If not, where has this money gone? c) Since that batch of trainees have passed, how was the remaining Rs 3 lakh, still with the contractor, adjusted?
A V Deshpande is a not a novice. He is now an IPS officer and has risen up the ranks of the Goa Police and understands departmental procedures well. Perhaps too well. From what Herald has learnt, he has exposed the system fully. While a contractor waits for his bills of a total of Rs 11 lakh plus to be cleared, those who voted for this “zero tolerance to corruption” government are waiting to see how quickly the inquiry initiated after Herald’s expose and a public interest complaint, leads to results. And that can only mean the strictest of actions against this IPS officer, who has from all accounts shamed the force.
