A local court today pulled up a police officer investigating the alleged Goa Cricket Association (GCA) fraud case and a public prosecutor for "taking things lightly" while seeking remand of the three office-bearers of the body who were arrested last week.
Judicial Magistrate Vijayalaxmi Shivolkar reprimanded IO Shivram Vaingankar and Public Prosecutor Poonam Bharne in the open court after hearing the arguments on the bail applications moved by the trio.
"On June 15, when GCA president Chetan Dessai, secretary Vinod Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla were produced before the court, the public prosecutor remained absent while seeking their remand whereas the investigating officer asked for only one-day police custody.
"You were not there when the accused were brought for remand. The investigating officer (police inspector Shivram Vaingankar) asked for only one day police custody stating that minutes of meeting book (of GCA) is yet to be recovered from the accused," Shivolkar told Bharne, after hearing the arguments on bail petition filed by the trio.
Both Bharne and Vaingankar were present when the judge passed the strictures against them.
"The PP should have come before the court while seeking remand in such serious offences. The charges are such serious and the PP was not there. For such serious offence, you have taken things such lightly," the judge said.
"The picture has been projected before the appellate authority that I had given only one-day remand for the accused despite such serious charges against them," she added.
The Economic Offences Cell of Goa Police had arrested Dessai, Phadke and Mulla after GCA's life member Vilas Desai filed a case alleging that the trio misappropriated amount of Rs 3.13 crore sanctioned for GCA by the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI).
Meanwhile, adjourning the case until Wednesday, the court has extended the police custody of the accused trio by another four days even as it directed the investigating agency to complete the probe.
Seeking the bail for Dessai and Phadke, senior lawyer Subodh Kantak argued that the accused were arrested despite cooperating with the investigating agency.
He said in fact Dessai, Phadke and Mulla had lodged an FIR against "unknown persons" on behalf of GCA in connection with the fraud, but still an FIR was registered against them.
Kantak said two FIRs cannot be registered in relation to
the same case and that the complaint filed by the trio against the "unknown accused" for siphoning off the money should have been investigated first.
Opposing the prosecution's argument that custodial interrogation of Dessai, Phadke and Mulla was necessary to recover minutes of the meeting book which has gone missing, he said the book is irrelevant because the police complaint mentioned that the issue about the cheque was never taken up in the meeting.
As per the prosecution, the trio had opened accounts between October 23, 2006, and May 23, 2008, when GCA was headed by Dayanand Narvekar while Dessai was its secretary and Phadke its treasurer.
"They prepared forged documents as well as a resolution of GCA and submitted it to the Development Credit Bank to open an account. They then encashed a cheque of Rs 2.87 crore given by BCCI to GCA," the complaint had stated.
The accused also allegedly forged signatures and withdrew Rs 26 lakh from the Federal Bank on the pretext of making payment to a sports goods company called Hako Enterprise.
Dessai, Phadke and Mulla were booked under sections 408, 409 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 463, 464, 468 (forgery), 471 (fraud), 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, Kantak said the signatures of all the accused were forged to open the bank accounts where the cheques amounting to Rs 3.13 crore were encashed.
Lawyer Shailendra Bhobe representing the third accused (Mulla) said his client has been in police custody for last five days and they have not been able to get any evidence against him.
However, public prosecutor Bharne said the custody of the accused is required so that they don't tamper with the evidence.
She said the investigating agency has to search and seal the GCA office so that important documents which are relevant to the case are not destroyed.
