PANJIM: Crime Branch’s (CB) Special Investigation Team (SIT) raided the ancestral house of ‘key witness’ Maria Figueiredo in the iron ore theft case on Wednesday, only to return without any evidence pertaining to the ongoing investigation.
SIT searched the house at Loutolim for around three and half hours in a bid to lay hands on documents that could help the investigation. However, the team found nothing.
Crime Branch SP Kartik Kashyap stated the raid was carried out at Figueiredo’s Loutolim house at around 11.30 am. “We had conducted a search for finding documents related to mining or any financial transactions between Imran khan and Maria but couldn’t find as there were none,” he told Herald.
Sources said the team checked the bank transactions, savings and current accounts, property related documents, etc, but couldn’t find major transactions between the two, though some deposits of Rs 1 lakh or little above were made on random occasions. “These were scrutinised from the year when the alleged illegal mining activity began. However, there was nothing to show that the transactions were towards mining activities,” said another official.
Figueiredo, the legal heir of the mining lease under TC 65/51 has denied knowledge about mining-related activity on the property wherein Khan holds the power of attorney.
In her statement to SIT, Figueiredo alleged that Khan compelled her to sign some documents with regards to mining lease in the year 2007-2008. “He told me that there is no ore in the said lease area. However, he would pay me monthly, quarterly in cash and also through bank towards handing over mining lease area for agricultural purpose. To best of my knowledge, the said mining lease was not working/existing,” she had said, claiming she was oblivious about extraction and sale of iron ore by Khan.
Sources also said that Khan would not make payments to Figueiredo on a regular basis, but would ensure cash payments. The 87-year-old also alleged that Khan would obtain her signatures on documents and not allow her to read through it.
The District and Sessions Court that recently granted bail to Khan, agreed to SIT’s submission that Khan was carrying out mining operations. “The records in the form of power of attorney and various licenses which are issued by the departments clearly show that it is issued in the name of one person and the applicant was carrying out mining operations,” the court observed.
